In response to my post, The Problem with Politics IS Politics, I received a comment suggesting the “cleansing of the political gene pool.” As I re-read the suggestion, it started to stick and then grow on me. “Cleansing of the political gene pool” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Perhaps with term limits, the line-item veto, primary reform and even a promise from candidates not to become lobbyists for a certain amount of time (yet to be determined) after leaving office; kind of like a non-compete clause. Just wait and see how many career politicians become a lobbyist upon retiring from Congress.
Let’s make the 22nd Amendment to our Constitution applicable to the President and members of Congress. According to Section 1, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…” Now, before the crying-chorus of incumbency begins, all the foreboding threats of Congress grinding to a halt if there were not senior members to run the joint, look around. Have they not already nearly ground to a halt? What exactly has seniority gotten us, other than wrangled?
We could work to add a Section 3 to the 22nd to include a non-compete clause. Candidates would take and oath to uphold these reforms once elected and we could then use our collective votes to hold them to it. I know it sounds like an uphill battle, huge. That said, what if we had as a goal the eradication of incumbents one election at a time? Suppose we work at sending state and federal career politicians packing?
It could happen.
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