Im reflecting from the pov of a parents role re: the kids. If you give the kids what they want, its going to be soda and candy every day of their lives. Some deciaions are tough, e.g. delayed gratification, and holding ones ground, but do voters even care about stuff like that?
Can we even hope on common sense, when the population is concerned?
In a truely objective sense, the concept of “good for the people” and “good for the country” would be one and the same. The people are the country, and if treated as a population aggregate, are easy to monitor for overall well-being. Yes, individual people will always want selfish things, pork-barrel spending, local projects, etc.