Response to President Obama's press conference today:
In his press conference today concerning the spending limit President Obama hit the nail on the head. The problem is, as he has been prone to do during his White House tenure, he hit the wrong nail. After all, he was aiming for lower unemployment and a booming economy when he forced stimulus spending on us…wrong nail. Health care for all was the cry with Obamacare…not quite. At least the nail he hit today was actually profound and points out the problem with the way our government is run.
President Obama said, “The difference between professional politicians and the public at large…” Read that statement again.
You might wonder what came next. But, that’s not what is important. What is important is the fact that in our government today there is a difference between politicians and the public at large. Our government was designed to run efficiently if, and only if, it were run by its citizens, not professional politicians.
President Obama later pressed the point that this budget deal must be done now in its entirety. He said we cannot put it off three months, six months, or more…it has to be done now. He continued that difficult decisions need to be made to solve this problem and these decisions will only get more difficult if they are pushed down the road a few months. The President explained his logic for the increased difficulty. He said the biggest problem in a few more months is elections. The longer ‘professional politicians’ wait to make these tough decisions, the closer the next election gets. The career politician doesn’t want to be making tough choices just before an election. That is the crux of the problem!
Professional politicians worry about the next election more than they worry about principled decisions. That has to change if we want a smaller, more efficient government. Do we really want to have individuals represent us who are interested in their career more so than they are in voting with their principles? That is what has brought us to where we are today and that is what has to end if we ever hope to fix our government.
Professional politicians answer to their Party leaders before they answer to the voters who sent them there. If you don’t do what the Party wants you will have no help getting reelected or getting any meaningful legislation passed. If you do what the Party wants, and it happens to be different than what your voters want, you have the power of the Party machine behind you at election time. It’s a win-win for the professional politician and the political Party machines. It is lose-lose for the rest of us.
Voting out professional politicians is a virtually impossible task. But, it can happen in one of two ways. One would be term limits. While it seems career politicians have no problem passing such legislation for the executive branch, they don’t go anywhere near it for their own branch of government. Term limits is an unlikely alternative. And, many opponents, from professional politicians to the ‘public at large’ contend that elections are term limits. The problem with that argument is that, not only do professional politicians oppose term limits, but they also stack the deck heavily in their favor for reelection. Therefore, the other alternative is election reforms.
Barriers to challengers are built into the system every step of the way. The number of signatures needed is a major challenge to anyone who does not have a political machine behind them. Professional politicians argue that it is done to make certain that any candidate on the ballot is a legitimate, sincere candidate. That sounds nice, but the reality is it is designed to stop challenges to incumbent officials. Gathering signatures just to get on the ballot is a daunting task that many good people just throw up their hands and decide not to ‘bother.’ That is only the beginning. The cost is prohibitive. The incumbent uses his office to gain votes just by doing his job. The political machine of the Party is there every step of the way using their experience and expertise in guiding the election effort.
Because of this I will say that I have reached a point in my life where I will find it very difficult to “pull the lever’ for any candidate who has a degree in public administration (an indication of wanting a career in politics), has ‘served his time’ with the Party, or has held that particular office for more than two or three terms (depending on the length of the term). That is easier said than done, but it is a philosophy I only hope more will adopt.
Until the two major Parties are put in their place, we will have politicians voting to please the Party leaders rather than the voters in order to keep their jobs. It is time to put an end to the idea of a profession of politics.
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