Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tele man
Gobberment of "..the (wealthy) people.." by & for "..the (wealthy) people..."
When was the first/last time we had ANY "poor/poverty" congressional representatives-- EVER?
|
I agree with your overall argument that our system of picking representatives is flawed and results in poor outcomes. However, it would be unlikely to find a brilliant and responsible mind in a person who is living in poverty. Impoverished people rarely prefer to be in poverty, and responsible, sound-minded, and intelligent people don't find themselves in poverty very often.
Heck, Stephen Hawking could literally do nothing for himself, and yet still managed to not only avoid poverty, but enjoy an upper class lifestyle.
The arbitrary categories we group people in are not important when considering the fitness of a political representative. What is most important is that they leverage reason to the full extent possible to serve the interests of those they represent.
There should be no such thing as career politician. We should have not only term limits, but also limits to the cumulative amount of time serving in any political position. Representatives should come from the community, and they should return to the community, thereby reducing the temptation to appeal to special interests to maintain political office. Being a politician should actually be a sacrifice to serve the people, not an opportunity to be richly rewarded in politics.