This week I’ve decided to expand beyond the boundaries of Caribou, and discuss our state and federal government. If any of you have an inside track with LePage or Obama, would you please forward this column to them.
Every once in a while we all need to vent and since I have the platform to do that with this column, this just happens to be the day I’ve chosen to jump right in. When I look back over the past several months at what has gone on in Washington with the fiscal cliff debacle and more recently the sequester fiasco, I just shake my head and ask myself, “is there any hope for this country?” It seems our elected officials spend half their time campaigning for re-election and the other half trying to convince everyone why the opposition’s policies won’t work. Doesn’t leave a lot of time to try and solve the real problems that face our country.
I am going to pick on the federal government today, but most of the problems and answers probably pertain to the state government as well.
I have asked myself the same two questions many times over the last decade. What is wrong with the government in Washington and what do we do to fix it? The first question is easy. Everything! In my opinion the second question is easy as well and only requires one slight change. All elected officials are allowed to serve one term only. Increase the term in Congress if you want to three years or four, but no one can serve more than one term. No more career politicians.
Just think how differently things would be done. When newly elected officials arrive in Washington they could immediately start focusing on the country’s problems instead of what they have to do to get re-elected. Their decision making would be based on what they felt would be best for the country without worrying about what the polls say or how the far right or left of their particular party would look at their decisions. If they were members of the Democrat or Republican party they wouldn’t have to follow the party guidelines if they didn’t think that the party’s position was the right thing to do. OMG! We may be able to have true bi-partisan decision making under this process. We may not even need to have the party system in place.
Where would the lobby groups for the NRA and the pharmaceutical companies etc. be? They could no longer support the candidates in their re-election campaigns in exchange for support of their agendas because the incumbent could not run for re-election. I suppose they could try to support new candidates. If I was running for office and they offered to support my campaign financially, I would certainly accept their money but I don’t know if I would support their position on upcoming bills. I think they would all fall prey to that old proverb, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
We all know people who have run for office with the greatest intentions of doing the right thing and making a difference when elected. The same thing seems to happen to every one of them once they arrive in Washington. They either succumb to the party and its system or they try to do the right thing and the party supports a different candidate in the next primary and they are gone. No matter which choice they make, it’s not a great option.
This column is nowhere near long enough for me to express the admiration and respect I have for the founders of this country. Nor do I have the space to voice my opinion on the foresight they had in writing the Constitution as they did. I will, however, mention that these people were not career politicians and did what they did with one thought in mind: what is the best thing for this country?
I think the biggest benefit of having one-term members would be the caliber of candidates you would attract. I have had the opportunity during my career to spend time with many astute business people, none of whom ever expressed an interest in politics. I do believe that many of them would be willing to take a 3- or 4-year sabbatical from their business life if they knew they could make a difference in the future of this country.
Can you even begin to imagine how much better things might be if we filled the House and Senate with people who are not only intelligent but are capable of making the decisions that are needed to get this country back on course and not backing down when resistance rises up? Most successful business people make their decisions based on what is best for their companies in the long term. What a unique idea, it might even work for the country.
When you see them making decisions based on the short term, it usually means one thing. Their business is in trouble and they are grasping at straws trying to hang on and hoping things will get better. Sound familiar! Would all their decisions be popular? I doubt it very much, since most of us seem to be more interested in that entitlement theory. You know the one I mean. Cut all those other programs, but don’t touch the ones that affect me cause I deserve everything I’m getting. Oh, and by the way, anything that goes wrong in my life is somebody else’s fault because it certainly couldn’t be mine.
Venting is such a great tonic. I feel so much better now than when I got up this morning. The weather is getting nicer and the potholes are getting bigger. Oh damn, that means we’re coming right up on that scenario of one man on the shovel and three men watching him work and I’ll probably have to write another column.
This column is strictly the opinion or view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of the City of Caribou’s administration staff, its employees, or other council members. Gary Aiken may be reached at garyaiken@hotmail.com.
