Brain-Jockey

Juvenile Delinquent Politicians: It’s How We Got Here

Written by Audrie Zettick on March 31, 2009

PA Leadership Conference recently held in Harrisburg, PA. Congressman Armey is now with Freedomworks and was the kickoff speaker for the PLC’s 20th Anniversary conference. Basically, he asked the question, “How the hell did we get here?”     

        

Over 570 conservatives were in attendance at this year’s conference, the biggest ever.  I saw people there I haven’t seen in years.  In fact, I’ve been missing in action from this conference though here in spirit.  Busy doing my part raising kids, running a business and generally trying to keep ahead of all those daily responsibilities.

 

I was scared off my duff this past year, as I watched American policy carried along by the rush of popular politics, not deep thought. That’s why I was there and why I’ll be at the Harrisburg Tax Day Tea Party.  Tweeting, blogging and Facebook have their place, but elbow to elbow with like-thinkers is invigorating in this time of national stress. And Armey’s message hits home.

 

He asked: how in the world can you get so many billions of dollars in bad business decisions?  Politicians in action have gone beyond sensibility to the absurd.  He explained:

 

• Almost all bad ideas can be worked into a rationale for building bigger government…that ultimately benefits elected officials by allowing them to build a bigger empire.It’s a natural impulse. 
• Politicians are drawn to economic issues for power, control, and authority over your life and money. 
• Politicians accept bad ideas because they are easy and nonrigorous. 

 

I don’t mean to beat up politicians.  I’m a former county-wide elected official (Clerk of Courts), committeewoman, judge of elections, and ran for Congress, among other positions.  But I’m a firm believer in term limits, limiting one’s time in office in order to keep connected to the “real world” the rest of us live in.  Armey’s message nails the problem. 

 

According to Armey, politics today is form of juvenile delinquency and citizens are living with the consequences. He noted that it’s time to stop accepting this behavior.   

 

I say, let’s perform an intervention.  The Tax Day Tea Party protests are a good start (or continuation, for those of you have been to the previous Tea Party protests).  See you there.