It has become fashionable to blame government for all our ills. In the words of Ronald Reagan…that famous government hater…government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem. And now there are those who want to punish government…in particular Congress…for their alleged transgressions.
Their solution…turn Congress into the California State Legislature.
Emails are crisscrossing the Internet proposing essentially imposing this foolish choice on the rest of the nation. They want to reform Congress. They alternately propose a 28thAmendment to the Constitution or the melodiously named “Congressional Reform Act” of 2011. The purpose of this “Act” would seem to be to punish Congress for acting stupidly. It would, among other things, strip members of Congress of their pensions, limit their pay, strip them of their healthcare and, generally, make their lives more miserable than they already are. But at the heart of their proposal is to limit their terms to twelve years…six two year terms for Representatives, two six year terms for Senators.
In other words, turn Congress into the California State Legislature.
What exactly does this mean…and how does it operate in California. Well, for one thing, it means that our Assemblymen and State Senators, by the time they find their way to the rest rooms, have to be out looking for other jobs. In fact, they have to start looking for other jobs before they learn the jobs they already have. With the result that the State of California is run, not by the officials Californians have elected, but by lobbyists paid by the various special interests we’re supposed to be regulating. The lobbyists know their job…they’re professionals. And their job is to make sure the State of California bends to their interests...not the other way around.
Is this truly what we want for the rest of the country?
It is remarkable that, in a country where we insist that no one but a professional plumber touch our pipes, a professional electrician touch our wires, where we must have professional doctors and dentists to treat our physical ills, that we are willing to turn our government over rank amateurs. We have allowed the black helicopter crowd among us to turn “politician” into a dirty word, insisting that any boob on the street can effectively deal with such simple matters as defense policy, diplomacy, commerce…oh, just about any governmental function you can mention. Into these uneducated hands we wish to entrust Medicare and Social Security. While we insist on professionals to fly our airplanes, we also insist that those who regulate them haven’t a clue about what they’re regulating.
If we had any sense at all…and we don’t…we’d insist that our Congressmen and Senators be paid more, not less, that government attract the best and brightest among us…as it used to…and not those who can’t get a job doing anything else. We need to stop turning our government over to those who believe that government is inherently bad…and are hell-bent on proving it by driving us into every ditch they can find. If we want to get rid of the boobs currently screwing government up, perhaps we should hire a few who know what they're doing.
The fact of the matter is, we do have term limits in this country. They’re called elections.
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