Professional Politician

What is the motto of the professional politician? We’ve been told it is, “Your first job is to get elected; your second job is to get reelected.” Cynical of us you may ask? Perhaps but why would a person seek public office if the sole purpose is “to get the job?” Isn’t America about the private citizen who does his/her duty in public service and then gets back to their real job? Isn’t this a guiding principle of our national character? Isn’t this what our founders did? Let’s look at this issue.

What comes first, the politician or the philosophy? Does one say, “Hey, I’d like to be on the city council or senator or president but I don’t know what I stand for? I’d like the job; it pays well; they call me Mr. Councilman or senator and everyone listens to what I say.” Or does one say, “Hey, I stand for this and that and it’s about time someone who supports this and that get a voice in political affairs. You see no one else stands for this and that so I am going to go public with my stands for this and that and see if voters see this and that the way I do?”

There are some interesting examples that TheFundamentals would bring to your attention. The one that really jumps out at us is this guy John McCain from Arizona. Now, we preface all of our comments with this stipulation – the people of AZ have the right to elect anyone they choose to any of their national offices at least under current law. Just because McCain has been around for years and appears to never have been employed in a real life experience job and just because he ran for President on the POOP ticket and just because he has held committee chairmanships of great power in the national congress does not make him a bad guy. He does, however, appear to subscribe to the motto quoted above of the professional politician and his lack of any interest in or success at any other form of employment (yes, we know he flew military jets and yes we know he got shot down) would suggest that he is a professional politician.

Here is another example. This guy also appears to be a professional politician. His name is Arlen Specter and he even changed parties a few years ago so that the voters of his party would not defeat him in a primary election. Guess what? Yep. The voters of the other party threw him out after he switched to their side. So what does one make of that situation? Is it best to get thrown out by the gal (guy) that brought you to the dance or is it best to switch partners while at the dance and then get thrown out by the new partner? We don’t know but you can pose that question to Arlen at http://specter.senate.gov/  and see if he will give you a straight answer.

Last example. This guy is the present governor of Florida and he wants to be FL’s next US senator. He was also a POOP guy and he was elected governor on the POOP ticket and signed up for senator on the POOP primary ticket and then he started to read the polls. Apparently the POOP voters were nowhere near as impressed with his this and that stands so they were clearly going to vote for one of his primary opponents which would have left him on the POOP pile so to speak. So, what did he do? Nope he did not switch to PIP like good ‘ole Arlen. He declared himself an independent. And now he is the third guy running for the senate seat from FL.

Are these three fellows’ just examples of “survivorship” or are they just professional politicians or a little of both? Do we care? Should we care?

TheFundamentals suggests that all three are examples of professional politicians and we should care greatly. Perhaps we should not be picking on them simply because they had to scurry like rodents to try to keep their jobs. Most professional politicians do not have to do much more than show up to keep their jobs. Think about the lifers; the long timers; the really well imbedded politicians with names like Nancy Pelosi and Richard Durbin and Henry Waxman and Charles Schumer and Barney Frank and the late lion of the senate – Edward Kennedy and the living senatorial corpse – Robert Byrd. The list is quite long and they all were imbedded, professional politicians. And as much as some may argue that voters should be able to choose whomever they wish to fill these jobs, TheFundamentals argues that their pattern of behavior is a distortion at a minimum and more likely a corruption of democracy because the imbedded national professional politician develops powers that extend way beyond her or his electoral base. They also embrace an entitlement mentality about their offices and their power and their influence which is usually available for sale under the guise of legal fund raising. This entitlement mentality extends to their voters/supporters. For these reasons alone they must be limited to an arbitrary cumulative time in office. Otherwise how are they different than a ruling monarch or tyrants like the North Korean lineage or some Arabian family of despots with their sycophantic followers, supporters and hanger-on-ers?

Please support a constitutional amendment to limit the cumulative time in office for any national politician, except president because that office is already limited to two terms via the 22nd amendment. Twelve years total, cumulative in any combination of national offices should be more than enough. America does not need professional politicians and we clearly cannot afford their financially promiscuous conduct. They are part of America’s problem. The solution is simple: TERM LIMITS. National term limits require an amendment to the US Constitution. Make sure the candidates you support this November will support and vote for a term limit amendment in the next year.