What a silly system. If we need help with our plumbing, we hire a plumber; a trained professional. Need a house built? There are a whole host of architects, excavators, cement workers, engineers, electricians, and carpenters to do the job. Need brain surgery? Who are you going to call; the person with the most experience, or the person with the least? Need a country governed? Hire an amateur; a citizen politician. I’m not just talking about how this last round of elections turned out, I’m talking about how our system is designed. First off, who makes the selection? Us. We the people. We treasure this government ”of the people, by the people, and for the people”. But what makes us, the general population, such experts on governance that we’re the right people to even make the selection in the first place about who best to govern? What are our qualifications? Some of us pay attention to national and world affairs, but some of us don’t pay any attention at all, then show up at the polls and vote once every four years? How many times do slogans win out over substance? Our system is designed in favor of citizen politicians (otherwise known as amateurs). Governance is really complicated. Just to make sure politicians don’t get too involved in what they’re doing, make them drop everything and run for re-election every 2, 4, or 6 years. And don’t take a chance on them getting too good at their job, impose term-limits too. Anything else we need done, we look for the most qualified experienced experts we can find. But govern our country? We’re so wary of career politicians, only an amateur will do. This is the smartest system we can come up with? A whole bunch of people, us, many of whom know nothing about politics, half of whom don’t even vote, often choosing the least qualified candidate we can find?
The weekend is over. We find ourselves again in a camp loop with no other campers.
