Rob's blog

Thomas Sowell is a national columnist who gets published in the Deseret News. On December 29th, he wrote an article that you can read for yourself here. The subject is about how he thinks it would be better to just pay members of congress $1 million a year to serve there so we could get the best people in office rather than just the ones who keep getting re-elected. He compares what members of congress make with company CEO's and business people who know a heck of a lot more about laws and making things work than many politicians. He suggests that by paying a salary that is closer to what the really capable people out in the workforce make, we could attract people to office who aren't just those who gladhand themselves back into office every two years and all they ever think about is their next re-election instead of focusing on their jobs in congress.

I don't know about the $1 million salary, but I agree with the concept. We keep getting the same lame people who's claim to fame is the ablity to raise a lot of money and thus be controlled by outside interests who jerk the guy's chain every time they want something to help them or to kill something that will be "against their interests." Now, I don't believe that all politicans are like this - many are there for the right reasons and are trying to do their best for their constituents and the country, but there are enough of the other kind to give the whole bunch a bad rep. Career politicians are one of the banes of our country, and yet they keep getting elected. What can we do about it?

One idea that Sowell mentioned is a different kind of term limit that would require someone to have to "sit out" from any office for a certain amount of time to get some real world experience and to give others the chance to make a difference in the meanwhile before they could run again. This is a very interesting concept. I don't know how practical it would be, but if someone could only be in the senate for, say, 2 consecutive terms and have to sit out for 4 or 6 years before being able to run again, the entire power structure of the senate would be changed with the senior committee positions going not to the most senior, but perhaps to the most capable senators.

Another reason he feels people are ineffective, especially in the house, is that when they have to run for office every two years, they are ALWAYS looking to the next election and who they have to please to get re-elected. They never have time to sit down and do their job RIGHT NOW. He quoted the only time George Washington ever lost his temper when someone commented to him that if he made a particular decision, it would cost him re-election as president. He apparently blew up that at the suggestion that he wanted to be president more than serving as a duty and then letting someone else have a turn. Why can't we get more people to do this? We don't teach public service as a civic duty and only the most desparate, single-caused, or rich people can afford to get involved in politics. Somehow, we need to turn this around. Otherwise, the situation just continues to perpetuate itself.