... but she's not a senator, although, I know what you mean.
If a nut job like Palin can get ELECTED, with backing from campaign contributors... people now in her back pocket and asking for favor like all other politicians...
what's wrong with letting one of your co-workers give it a try? or the house mom down the street? or the mechanic in the neighborhood that you wouldn't go to when the sun sets? ...An average joe who doesn't have all these special interests in their corner.
whose to say any of these people wouldn't do a better or worse job. One of the incentives for them to do a good job is the grading of their performance. If they do a good job, they get a bonus; if not, they don't get a bonus... just like in corporate America.
I totally get the frustrated impulse behind the suggestion... but I think folks are dramatically underestimating the background information needed to craft sound policy.
People can come by that information in a whole range of ways -- from local politics to state politics to national politics (where I think the problem is that her specific jobs are too recent, and don't prepare her for national leadership, rather than the inherent fact that she was a small-town mayor); through business, through the nonprofit sector, through academia, through the legal system, and others.
and what if by chance we ended up with a random senate packed with conservative religious fundamentalist and they organized their objectives to force prayer in schools, outlaw homosexuality and wanted the bible displayed in every municipal courthouse in the country...
I would at the very least require a college education, make only property owners eligible, and nobody on welfare...
that chance is no better than what we have today... though they can currently run for re-election. There would still be the checks by the House of Rep and the President... and if it made it into law, it could be challenged judiciously in the court system.
Your other requirements seem to marginalize the poor and those who might not need a college education to succeed in their career path. I would be ineligible because I don't own property; if you meant a home or land. I do own my car though (title is in my name and hands)... does that count as property?
I might agree with the welfare thing, but I don't see how the other two would be advantageous for setting a minimum requirement for selection.
The basic principle that governed voting in colonial America was that voters should have a "stake in society." Leading colonists associated democracy with disorder and mob rule, and believed that the vote should be restricted to those who owned property or paid taxes. Only these people, in their view, were members of the community who were bright enough to be self sufficient and successful enough to vote. Each of the thirteen colonies required voters either to own a certain amount of land or personal property (like your car), or to pay a specified amount in taxes.
As far as marginalizing the poor-- Why on earth would I want someone who cannot be successful in life to make laws for me in D.C.? They would likely steer the country down the same path that they've taken their own lives.
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If a nut job like Palin can get ELECTED, with backing from campaign contributors... people now in her back pocket and asking for favor like all other politicians...
what's wrong with letting one of your co-workers give it a try? or the house mom down the street? or the mechanic in the neighborhood that you wouldn't go to when the sun sets?
...An average joe who doesn't have all these special interests in their corner.
whose to say any of these people wouldn't do a better or worse job. One of the incentives for them to do a good job is the grading of their performance. If they do a good job, they get a bonus; if not, they don't get a bonus... just like in corporate America.
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I totally get the frustrated impulse behind the suggestion... but I think folks are dramatically underestimating the background information needed to craft sound policy.
People can come by that information in a whole range of ways -- from local politics to state politics to national politics (where I think the problem is that her specific jobs are too recent, and don't prepare her for national leadership, rather than the inherent fact that she was a small-town mayor); through business, through the nonprofit sector, through academia, through the legal system, and others.
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I would at the very least require a college education, make only property owners eligible, and nobody on welfare...
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Your other requirements seem to marginalize the poor and those who might not need a college education to succeed in their career path. I would be ineligible because I don't own property; if you meant a home or land. I do own my car though (title is in my name and hands)... does that count as property?
I might agree with the welfare thing, but I don't see how the other two would be advantageous for setting a minimum requirement for selection.
Reply
As far as marginalizing the poor-- Why on earth would I want someone who cannot be successful in life to make laws for me in D.C.? They would likely steer the country down the same path that they've taken their own lives.
Reply
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