Tuesday, April 12, 2005

When did it start going wrong?

I’ve long held that the decline in the quality of our government began with the rise of a career called “politician”. I think we had better government when the Congress and Senate were made up of the teacher, the banker, the hardware store owner, the pharmacist and, yes, the lawyer who spent a couple of terms in office and then left to go back to the real world. These men were not focused primarily on winning reelection or getting a job as a lobbyist. Yes, I know there were losers back then, but, in general, those in government were focused more on doing what they saw as the right thing than is the current crop of legislators.
I was reminded of this listening to a brain surgeon on NPR this morning who pointed out the number of doctors and other health care people who were members of our first governments.
I doubt that I will ever see the demise of the politician, although one can always dream.

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