One thing that pisses me off is when people dismiss a presidential candidate because he/she “lacks political experience”.
Politics was never supposed to be a career track. Politicians simply represent the will of the people. There is no college major or career that better qualifies you to represent the will of the people.
If anything, being a politician too long should be seen as a negative because it means one has been too divorced from reality too long. Politicians don’t have to deal with the labor market (I’m going to guess that’s a huge reason why nobody ever brought up automation until Andrew Yang), don’t have to worry about getting fired (even Trump never got impeached) and job security, get cushy six figure salaries, and their own special healthcare.
I think people are under the impression that politicians spend most of their time with working class Americans, the homeless (wait, nobody thinks that – nobody in this country cares about homeless people), etc. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Policians spend 2/3 of the day begging rich people for money. 4 hours/day alone are as a telemarketer calling up rich people.
It should thus not surprise us why these “career politicians” seem to never do anything for everyday Americans. Their real constituents are the wealthy people they spend most of their time panhandling from, and the corporate lobbyists who wine & dine them.
Politicians always talk about how amazing “the economy” is because they’re completely insulated from it. The economy literally does not affect them. They don’t have to worry about job security, being fired, adapting their skills, sending out resumes, and going to job interviews. 78% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, but Congressmen have an annual salary of $174,000, 239 days off every year, better healthcare than you, better retirement plan than you, realistically can’t get fired, etc. The median net worth of Congressmen is $1.1 million ($3.2 million for Senators).
Do you really think Congressmen are in the best position to represent us?
Most Congressmen studied law, political science, history, business, etc. Only 10% majored in a STEM discipline.
Are Lawyers and humanities majors more qualified to represent us?
Hell no. To even suggest that is absurd.
We need more STEM majors in congress. Not even just because the sciences are underrepresented, STEM majors tend to be very logical, rational, and smart. I don’t intend to diss the humanities because they are essential – but whether warranted or not, at most universities it seems that STEM majors have more of a reputation for being the field that the “smart kids” go into. Yet they only make up 10% of Congress.
The idea that lawyers and humanities majors are more qualified to represent us is utterly ridiculous. No major or job makes anyone more qualified to represent us.
To me the only qualifications are that one is 1. rational 2. intelligent 3. genuinely cares about serving the people. But of course anybody is free to have their own criteria.
So enough with this nonsense that politics should be a “career”, and that one should need political “experience” to run for office. A politician’s job is to represent the will of the people, and having spent the last 30 years in the Senate doesn’t make anyone more qualified to do so. If anything, that should make one less qualified because it means they’re completely removed from the economy, getting cushy salaries and never having to worry about job security and our international embarrassment of a healthcare system.
In an ideal world, politicians wouldn’t exist and we’d have a pure direct democracy (delegative/liquid democracy). Any political class is inherently corruptible and will tend to more represent the wealthy. Hopefully in the distant future, we can dispense with politicians altogether.
But for now, don’t let any wealthy political pundit dismiss your political candidate of choice because he “lacks political experience”. The 2016 presidential election has certainly proven that the public is fed up with establishment politicians who don’t actually care about them and do anything to improve their lives.
J. Savage 