Elect NO Incumbents

Yes, it’s an extreme view – my friends keep reminding me. And I don’t expect we’ll ever throw out ALL incumbents. But it’s one way of expressing my opinion of government today. It stinks. They stink. For the most part, they’re useless. One of my friends suggested that by eliminating “experienced” legislators, we’d end up with – as she so aptly expressed it – “…a bunch of trough-feeders who also are clueless about governing.”

My response: So what? They don’t do very much governing anyhow. Think about it: who runs the government? Career bureaucrats. It makes no difference who’s elected; it’s the staff that gets things done. What do our elected lawmakers do? Anything and everything that will help them get re-elected. A representative’s term in Congress is just two years. From the day he or she is sworn in, that person is running for re-election: photo-ops, fund-raising events, lobbyist meetings (for the perks and the contacts needed if the re-election campaign is not successful) and occasionally traveling somewhere in the world on “fact-finding” missions – on the taxpayers’ dime.

So my proposal, if it should be somewhat successful, would put the fear of God in our sitting lawmakers. They have a lot invested in their “careers.” Let them think about the possibility of losing it all. Elect NO incumbents -- national and state level! Maybe the next batch will actually do some governing.