The third cup 10/12

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Hi neighbors. We now have another actor in public office. At least this one has had some experience as an actor, which may put him ahead of those with no experience in either acting or governing. Have you ever wondered why we don't have any poor people running for office? I've pondered mightily over many cups of coffee about how to reform our government. It seems that it should be simpler than it is. What would happen if candidates weren't allowed to plan their own campaigns? What if they were given a list of questions and were allowed only a limited amount of public appearances that were covered by all avenues of the media? What if the only times they appeared in public, it was with their competitors, not their backers? Maybe things would be better if no candidate for any office could accept campaign funding from anyone -- including themselves. How would things change if they were not allowed to talk about each other; but only about the issues? Suppose they had to actually know current events and pass a public oral test on issues and policies before they could even throw their hat in the ring? We might get better informed politicians; but I don't know if they would be any better people. Here's a test. Let's make public office a voluntary commitment! No wages, or minimal wages like five dollars a day. They would have to go to their forums (state or federal Congress) only when it was in session. Their regular employers would, of course, have to grant them time off while they serve their country, like the National Guard members. While Congress is in session, all members are sequestered from lobbyists and special interest groups; perhaps kept in a barracks type hotel. When they are not needed in Congress in person, they can conduct the duties of their office from their home town or state as a second job. A staff could be maintained in an office designated for that use only. The same staff staying on no matter who from what political party is elected. Information and special requests, now hand delivered by lobbyists or their aides, could be mailed or faxed to the people's representatives. The various propositions and requests by these lobbyists could then be made public and the people could let the politicians know how they felt about them before the votes were counted on the Congressional floors in various states and Washington, DC Oh, another point. Elected officials who, without warning or good reason, simply did not show up to vote or do their other assigned duties would be counted as AWOL. Perhaps a new form of "Amber Alert" could be raised until they were located. It would be the responsibility of each elected official to make known any new bills or policies that were up for vote in state or national Congress. They would also be responsible to conduct polls from their voters before casting their own votes for or against these bills or policies. Of course the bigger the puddle, the harder the rowing. So the national offices would have more polling to do than the statewide or local representatives. The elected officials are only as representative as their voters allow though. So the voters should take a bigger chunk of the responsibility for how things in government happen. I think all the electing should be done at one time a year or so. Probably about the same month taxes come due would be convenient for most of us. Too often we think voting is all that's required of us as citizens. We don't consider the repercussions of leaving one elected official to face the music alone. The least we can do is help out in the band. If we find we are playing one song and our representatives are marching to a totally different one; it might be time to retune the instruments. It all boils down to staying in the band, keeping pace with the parade and not beating our own drum or cymbals so loudly we can't hear the rest of the players. And we sure can't afford to lose sight of the band leader marching so brightly ahead of us. Until the next time friends remember; some things need changing in our election system. The first thing to remember is elected officials are still public servants. And no matter what we think of whoever is in any public office, we put them there.