These people have to keep fighting imaginary foes since they never do anything to help the people that elected them to office.
Indeed, the Rats need their perpetual enemy, their Goldstein, to focus the hate of the mob. That’s how power is maintained by Big Brother.
“But always – do not forget this, Winston – always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.”
(1984 or is it 2014?)