It seems like every day, we hear the news of another one or two Congressmen or Senators deciding to retire at the end of this Congress, in larger numbers than ever before.
The announced retirements are from both parties, and include members who have often served for many terms, and in many cases state the reason for leaving as wanting to spend more time with their families.
This is a cover for the reality that serving in public office is becoming a more undesirable position as the years pass. The stress level from being a public servant elected by the people is such that after some time in office, the feeling develops that it just is not worth it to deal with the constant pressures that present themselves in the modern era, with the constant public scrutiny and ideological attacks from the left and the right, that over time wear down even the strongest personalities, and makes them decide that their commitment to serve has become faced with the reality of a barrage of constant criticism which can sour anyone, no matter how idealistic he or she may have once been.
Think about it: What other profession requires as much constant scrutiny and second guessing as being a politician? And despite the fact that politicians make four to five times the average salary of a typical American, they can all earn a lot more compensation in other fields, with far less scrutiny on a daily basis, and much less criticism.
So while certainly the American people have the right to attack and criticize their politicians, in the process they may very well be causing the most talented and committed to quit, leaving us with self servers who just want to advance their career, have no idealism or true commitment, and are likely to produce far worse results in their performance than we now are complaining about.
So expecting too much from politicians may lead to greater mediocrity in the long run. Is that what we want? 🙁
From the standpoint of someone involved in public policy, I think it is a negative, because the lack of experience and institutional knowledge will lead to less effective policy. From the standpoint of a Democrat, it is a negative as well because more of the Dems retiring are in “un-safe” districts, where as the GOP members retiring on the whole are in “safe” districts, meaning they stand a better chance of keeping those seats up for grabs. From the standpoint of the everyday American, however, who has lost confidence in the Congress and the government, it is actually a positive, because many feel the Congress needs to be refreshed with new faces and ideas. We’ll see in 5 years whether any of it really has made a difference.
On the contrary, the departure of these people is positive for our country. Long serving, professional politicians who are constantly worried about the next election will guarantee our country’s continuing decline. Too bad they are not all leaving. I for one would prefer an entirely different cast of characters in the congress.
But, Pete, would you want all “rookies” in any other profession, such as medicine, law, accounting, journalism, teaching, etc? Isn’t experience and broad based knowledge important? Who says that newcomers are qualified and can do any better? The answer is that the people can kick out anyone they want, but to have an entirely freshman Congress would be a great detriment, and you would come to regret it, as many members of Congress have done a lot of good over the years, but we tend to emphasize the negative examples, because that makes news.
I will be quite honest. The only qualifications needed for elective are: 1. Reasonable intelligence, 2. Listen to your electorate regarding their views and vote accordingly, and 3. Common sense.
Each of the members of Congress has funds to hire persons to do research for them. No one expects any member of Congress to know it all.
As it is now, ‘most’ member of Congress are ‘reasonably intelligent. From there it goes down hill fast. They for the most part do not listen to the voters who put them in office, instead vote with the leader who is the ‘whip’ of their particular group. Many do not have common sense. And the people they choose to do research and advise them, provided polarized information and views. This is the fault of the congress person. S/he picks a polarized person who is incapable for providing an unabiased opinion or research.
Member of congress should be elected like a jury is picked – open minded without personal gain … and selected for a certain peroid. Just like we don’t need jurist for 10, 20, or 40 years … we do not need elected officials for that long.