Insanity
By Tom Barrett (08/29/04)
Campaigning has come into the 21st Century. This week I received my first DVD campaign mail. But the message was more interesting than the medium. In the seven minute DVD Doug Gallagher, who is running for the US Senate from Florida, reminded the viewer of the definition of Insanity - "Doing the same thing over and over while expecting the outcome to change." He said that 62% of US Senators are attorneys; that their average number of years in elected office is 24; and that 97 of the 100 Senators are career politicians. Then he said, "And we wonder why things never change."
Gallagher has hit the nail on the head. In sixty seconds he identified the three biggest barriers to real change in the way our nation is governed: Attorneys control the government at all levels; we are in serious need of term limits; and career politicians are by nature far more interested in getting re-elected than they are in serving their constituents. This was not what our Founding Fathers envisioned.
Let me make it clear right away that I am not endorsing Doug Gallagher. The only thing I know about him is what I learned from the DVD and by visiting his website, www.GallagherForSenate.com. But I like the way he thinks. The DVD starts off showing 100 well-dressed people trying to eat soup with their forks, while spoons sit next to each bowl. The Senate (as well as the rest of government) keeps on doing things the way they always have, because the system is rigged to keep people like Gallagher, who think in fresh, new ways, from having a chance.
"We keep sending the same old people to the Senate, year after year. They debate the same old topics, and come up with the same old, tired conclusions," Gallagher says on the DVD. "And we wonder why our Social Security System is on the verge of bankruptcy…why there is still no immigration policy that is fair to all…why a great public education is a thing of the past."
But it's not the Senators' fault - it's our fault for sending the same old people to the Senate year after year. Many of them had their last fresh thought twenty years ago. Most have never worked for a living, so they have no clue what you and I go through every work day. They exist in their plush ivory tower where their every whim is catered to because WE allow it.
This is one topic that conservatives and liberals should be able to agree upon. The system is broken - on BOTH sides of the aisle. But the Democrats, while they pushed for the fake "campaign finance reform" that has more loopholes than a Mafia lawyer's contract, will never agree to "Politician Reform." And unfortunately, most Republicans are so comfortable in their positions that we can't count on them either.
So it's up to us. We, the people, must determine to elect only those individuals who agree to vote for "Politician Reform." What would this look like? Let's look to the Founders to get an idea of what we should fight for…
First, although the Founders did not legislate term limits, I believe they would vote for them today. You see, the concept of a politician wanting to be a full-time senator or congressman would not have occurred to them. Congress was in session for only a few months at a time in our early history. The pay was minimal, so all politicians who were not independently wealthy had to work for a living. The idea of public service was that you sacrificed your time for a limited period, and then you went back to your real job and made way for others to serve. They would shudder at the spectacle of today's politician's using every ounce of energy to hold on to their positions of power and privilege.
I believe they would also be very upset to see people with little or no experience in real life running the nation they founded. The number of politicians who go directly from college into "public service" is staggering. Go to your favorite politician's website and read his or her biography. Chances are he or she never held a responsible job in the private sector or started a successful business. Gallagher points to the fact that he started a software company with $14,000 which grew to be a multi-million dollar company. I don't know about you, but I'd like to see more successful businessmen in Congress. The government has no clue how to run anything, and certainly doesn't know how to live within a budget. Having some entrepreneurs in office who know how to lead, how to manage on a shoestring, and how to think in fresh ways would be a boon for our nation.
Finally, the lawyer issue. I have read that there was a serious move during the Founding Period to bar lawyers from office. I don't know how serious that was, since many of the Founders were themselves attorneys. But it shows recognition of the fact that there are conflicts of interest when attorneys make laws, then argue both sides of those laws. There is a built-in motive for them to pass complicated and conflicting laws that will ensure multi-million dollar fees for themselves and their fellow attorneys.
When I did a web search on the subject of barring lawyers from politics, I found that many nations are currently considering such action. And I found an interesting article about an original Thirteenth Amendment (see link below) from around 1810 that some believe would have prevented lawyers from running for any elective office. It is unclear whether the Amendment was ever properly ratified, but the article raises some very interesting questions.
Regardless of whether lawyers should be barred from politics, I think the Founders would be very disturbed to see 62 of our 100 Senators lawyers. And I believe they would agree with me that the high percentage of lawyers in the highest levels of government bureaucracy is even more troubling, since the bureaucrats often wield even more power than the legislators they supposedly serve.
The problem today goes far beyond the obvious conflicts of interest inherent in a politician returning to the practice of law after passing legislation that will fatten their own bank accounts. The more pressing problem today is the tremendous influence the trial lawyers have over every aspect of government due to their huge campaign contributions to the Democrats. If my worst nightmare comes true and The Two Johns are elected, the American Trial Lawyers Association will literally own the US Government.
Why is that such a bad thing? First, we are the most over-lawyered nation in the world by a margin of ten to one. The next closest to us, Germany, has one-tenth the number of lawyers per capita that the US does. And they have too many! Billions of dollars are wasted every year because lawyers advise their clients to litigate rather than settling out of court. After all, they have to work, right? Frivolous and unnecessary litigation is draining the life from our economy.
Second, ridiculous and unconscionable court settlements have become so huge that they are driving up the cost of everything you buy. The most serious impact has been on the cost of health care. Why is health care more expensive in America than any other nation? Because plaintiffs regularly receive multi-million dollar judgments for often minor problems, and their lawyers get 33% to 40% of the settlements. Many physicians actually practice today with no malpractice insurance (which is detrimental to their patients) because of the greed of the trial lawyers. Plaintiffs should receive reimbursement for all reasonable expenses, but the "pain and suffering" awards in the tens of millions of dollars must be capped, or medical expenses will continue to sky-rocket.
What should we conclude from all this? If we want the insanity to stop, we need to change the way we vote. The one thing the politicians have not been able to take away from us is the vote. We can use it to get many of them out of office and elect others who share our values.
This is my plan of action:
1) I will only vote for an attorney if he is exceptional in every way. If there are two equally qualified candidates, that fact that one is a lawyer will be the deciding factor in my vote for his or her opponent.
2) I will look for candidates whose plans include spending a limited amount of time in office, then returning to their careers. The fact that Gallagher expressed that intent was a definite positive for me.
3) I will do everything in my power to see that strict term limits are passed for every elective office. If term limits are good enough for the Office of the Presidency, they're good enough for Congress and our Sate legislatures.
Friends, we CAN take this country back from the arrogant career politicians who currently own it. We CAN elect people who honestly want to serve instead of spending their lives gaining power for themselves. We CAN have a country where common sense and traditional values prevail and replace the insanity of "politics as usual."
INTERNET RESEARCH:
We Need Citizen Legislators, NOT Career Politicians
http://www.termlimits.org/
Our Political Aristocracy: Career Politicians Lose Touch with Voters
http://www.gobob.org/career-politicians.htm
Too Many Lawyers
http://www.overlawyered.com
Constitutional Amendment to Bar Lawyers from Politics?
http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2001/08/25/const.html
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