by Jeanette Ward, Contributing Staff Writer
I was in Washington DC a few weeks ago and was invited by Sharron Angle to observe her interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier in the studio. She did a great job articulating conservative principles in the interview, especially defending returning to LOCAL control the functions of the EPA, Department of Education, Department of Energy, etc. Because, according to the tenth Amendment, only the enumerated powers listed in the Constitution are reserved for the Federal Government. The rest are reserved for the states or other local authority. She is right on.
But I was particularly struck by something she said in passing off-camera. Someone on the Fox team remarked to her that she would possibly be moving to Washington DC. She said, “No, I’m not moving here; I’m just a visitor here. My responsibility is to the people of Nevada.” She also remarked to me that to guard against becoming out-of-touch with Nevada, it was very important to her that she NOT live in DC.
Sharron once wrote on a related topic, incumbency, in a book draft she was considering publishing (quoted with permission):
“One of the reasons our nation is in such great trouble is that the legislative branches of state and national governments have been populated by professional, career politicians. This was never intended by our founders, and the problem is very simple. The interests of career politicians are never aligned with the interests of the folks back home. To have a career and job security, the politician must first bow to the demands of those powerful forces that can get him or her re-elected.
“The first priority of the career politician is protecting the incumbency. The ideal to serve for a few years to share the burden of representation on behalf of their communities as the Founders intended has long been abandoned. It has been replaced be those wanting full-time employment in government and having a desire to change our culture and governance along the leftist lines prevalent in most educational institutions. Since the sixties, schools have been teaching that government is too complex for amateurs and should be entrusted only to professionals who have absorbed the faddish teachings of this era.
“Protecting incumbency requires extensive fund raising, political alliances, competent image makers and campaign managers. None of these things are consistent with representing the genuine interests of the folks back home. On the other hand, the paybacks to that coalition often require selling out the interests of the folks back home in favor of such lobbyists and power brokers. Also disgracefully, politicians have subsequently rigged a self-serving system of enormous rewards and benefits, travel both foreign and domestic, gold-plated health care coverage, generous salaries and allowances, pensions representing full salaries for life after short periods of service, and power and prestige which rivals that of royalty - all motivations to hold on to their “careers” at any cost.”
Sharron Angle is not interested in becoming one of the Washington elite. She is interested in serving “We the People." God-speed, Sharron Angle.
Jeanette Ward is the author of moveonreid.com, as well as a certified doula and owner of www.sbndoula.com. Jeanette also publishes www.theconsequencesofideas.blogspot.com
I don't believe that I have ever read a more cogent description of the encrusted incumbency of our government. The quote extracted from Ms Angle's is a consummate description of the politicians that have polluted our government. There is only one way that We The People can return this great nation to health and prosperity - replace the stagnant representatives who have ignored the critical issues facing our society and fixated on their own selfish agendas. We must elect officials who are attentive to promoting the ideals necessary to sustain growth and development of our culture - ordinary, everyday citizens who are not rooted in the system of political professionals.
ReplyDeleteArticulate commentary, Jeanette, of the legislators who make their living by pandering as career politicians.
Thank you so much, Genevieve! I can tell you from personal experience that Sharron is exactly what she says she is, and she is a statesman, not a politician.
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