by Robert Hamm

Created on: December 28, 2006   Last Updated: May 19, 2007

A lifetime in Congress or a brief pause from private life to serve in the public sector? That is the question which America needs to ask its current political leaders. What does America prefer? A group of self centered politicians content with only serving their own self preservation, or a group of people who are taking a pause from private life in order to serve the public. Let us take a look at the two groups.

Career politicians - those looking to serve in Congress or some other political body for years on end do not help the public. Career politicians contain no other skills besides knowing how to win an election. Consider yourself as the CEO if a company looking to hire a new person to your policy making board. Would you rather hire a person with only one skill, or a person with more skills and more diverse talents?

Career politicians only look out for themselves. How do they do this? Pork. By which I mean appropriation spending. Millions of dollars have been spent in this country on worthless projects that benefit only a small portion of America's population. Everything from minor parks that benefit no more than 50 people to giant train stations that nobody uses. But, to the voting public this buys their support. Does America really need this? Don't we deserve politicians who look to spend our tax money on more important projects?

We need Citizens Legislators. Citizens who will take a short absence from their private lives, serve the public, and then return to private life. Experience is not a pre-requisite to being elected. Our founding fathers did not create a democracy that is so complicated that only "seasoned legislators" can operate. If our system has become so complicated that we must have "seasoned legislators" to lead than we have a serious problem.

Citizen Legislators will come from diverse backgrounds bringing the skills needed to operate our government efficiently, smoothly and effectively. Also, this group will serve the needs of the people, not themselves. In order to have these Citizen Legislators we must have Term Limits and prevent politicians from serving a lifetime in office.

So ask yourself, would you rather have a group of leaders that look out for the good of the country, or just the good of themselves?

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