What?
Me Incompetent?
 Suppose
I had devoted my entire adult life to improving
my
so-called skills as an artist, which I have, eschewing
all other worldly matters, and then, after unexpectedly
coming into a great deal of money, I mean a HUGE
amount of money, I said "Screw this art stuff!" and
chose instead to run for senator of my state. Would
you vote for me?
You might. Know why? Because I would have the financial
wherewithal to catapult my propaganda.
Know what else? I'd make a crappy legislator if
elected because all I'd know about is bristol board
and kneaded erasers, and the public would suffer
as a result of my vast accumulation of ignorance.
It sounds ridiculous but the tragic thing is that
I more or less just described the political life
of Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) who, after leaving
the military, spent almost 25 years, and becoming
very weatlthy, in the car alarm business. That's
part of the reason how, in 1998, he could afford
to run for U.S. Senator of California, a campaign
in which he spent $10 million dollars of his own
money. Must be nice.
He lost, to Barbara Boxer, but ran again in 2000
for the U.S. House of Representatives of California,
and won. There's not much record of how much he
spent that year but there's little doubt that spend
he did.
So what does a career in the car alarm business
do to prepare a person for public office? Evidently
not much. Issa, who is currently THE richest man
in Congress (Net worth $350 million dollars, up
152% over last year.) has spent a great deal of
tax-paid time tilting at the U.S. Post Office windmill,
a Constitutionally mandated entity, trying his
best to destroy it. But who needs the Constitution
when your friends at FedEx and UPS would make a
ton of money if they were the only delivery game
in town?
I think it's pretty clear we need to place a lot
more emphasis on a candidate's record as a public
servant before we troop down to the ballot box.
It's painful to say this, as there are many good
Democratic legislators who are part of the Millionaire's
Club, but we need to put the Congress back in the
hands of elected officials who resemble the 99%,
not the 1%. It may sound simplistic but we have
to start somewhere because what we got ain't working.
So come November choose the guy with the smallest
campaign bankroll because he's certainly the one
the monied don't want to see elected.
=Lefty=
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