Shelf Life of Politicians

Our founding fathers envisioned service in the weak central government they created, to be a burden that citizens took on for a limited time, then returned to their homes and farms, to live within the laws they created.

These founders never would have thought we would create a veritable “political class” of people, who once elected, stay within the halls of power. Career politicians, they would have questioned, “who would ever want to do that?”

But that is what we have today.

I suppose there are some good reasons to have longevity in the House or Senate. Certain things come with seniority, and over time, the processes have gotten so complex, one needs some experience there before one can get anything done.

Term limits have a certain appeal, but then the seniority system would be out of wack. Perhaps that is good, level the playing field, and the processes will have to be simplified. Eliminate the entrenched representatives, and perhaps you eliminate the entrenched self-interest?

But what of those folks who go from one elected office to another, climbing a latter, without ever having to go back and live “in the real world”?

I for one would be more than a little irked if some Representative I “hired” by voting for, spent half his term running for election to another office, such as the Senate or President.

It just seems like he or she should be doing the job we sent him/her to Washington to do, not our campaigning for his/her next job. My tax dollars are still paying him as if he was putting in a full day on the job he was elected for. Reelection campaigns are nearly as onerous, but at least it is to keep his current job. I can’t see much of a way around that, except for term limits.

So, my proposal is sort of a hybrid on term limits.

No elected official can run for any office other than the one he/she is currently in while in office.

The effect of this would be that Representatives who wanted to be Senators, would have to sit out at least one term in order to run for the Senate seat they want. More than likely, they’d have to get a job and live in the real world. At the very least, they would not have the advantage of incumbency-proxy; not be able to use their taxpayer-funded staffs for anything election oriented (not supposed to now, but the fence in between the two functions has holes in it). And we’d create more turnover, and allow more fresh blood into the two chambers.

Want to run for President, Mr./Mrs. Senator? You can get right on that after you finish your time in the Senate. Do the job the people of your state sent you to do, then we can talk about a promotion. While running for President, John Kerry was reportedly only present for one Senate vote in all of 2004. Why would anyone hire somebody with such an absentee record?

So, that is my proposal. Anyone have any alternative ideas? Or, see some obvious flaws with my thinking? Please, let me know.

Concerned Patriot