What’s a Good Politician?

A friend recently sent me an article. In the article, the author described most of today’s politicians in Washington DC as the equivalent of drunk drivers. The writer asked if we require drivers to have a license to drive on the roads, why do we allow politicians to run our lives without even the equivalent of a metaphorical driver’s license? My response to the friend, about the article, was as follows:

Well-written and refreshing perspective!

I will carry the analogy one step further. Politicians should not be driving us, period. They are, by and large, the least morally and intellectually qualified to drive anyone. We only need a government to protect us from crooks, frauds and violent criminals, as well as external enemies like terrorists, Nazis or Communists. That’s more than enough for any government to handle, and it’s very important work.

Government should not be doing most of the things it currently does, however, like managing our diet soda intake; needling and harassing our doctors/hospitals with contradictory rules and regulations; micromanaging our banks (and then subsidizing them with tax dollars when the micromanaging goes wrong); determining the water pressure of our showers; picking the one-size-fits-all curriculum for students grades K thru 12 (e.g., Common Core); and the endless litany of items that any owner of a business, such as yourself, knows all too well.

Unfortunately, as George Carlin once pointed out, the people (the majority) won’t elect good politicians. I define good politicians as ones who want to get the government out of our lives, and leave us in the driver’s seats of our own destinies. And good politicians are the ones who WILL protect us against violent enemies and actual criminals. They will also leave us the means/arms for doing so ourselves, if necessary. That’s my dream.

The people have to want all this first; otherwise, they have no business complaining about the mediocre politicians messing up most things the free market and a properly limited government could much better handle. They can’t turn most of life’s challenges and responsibilities over to the government, as they (the majority) have, and then whine when the government handles those challenges like governments always do: with bureaucracy and ineptitude, regardless of who’s in charge.

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