There was an exceptional editorial from a very good historian in the NY Times recently.
Political historian Gordon Wood offers a very good editorial in the NYTimes where he warned against having too many inexperienced politicians(throw all the bums out). He notes that just about all the founders were seasoned politicians with years of experience. He warns of the dangers of too many inexperienced elected officials.
Our history is more complex than the image often portrayed of farmers setting down hoes to spend two years in the legislature and then returning. Politics is a science and the worst pieces of legislation (often within state legislature with a high number of new members) that cause the greatest damage tends to come from the most inexperienced legislators. They also tend to be the most extreme.
Centrist policies and politicians, the ones that have served our nation best, generally (not always, there are always exceptions) have taken time to season. In today's complex world, this seems important to remember. It doesn't guarantee that a long-term politician is a good one by any means, but it seems important to remember the lesson that even the founder's discovered important.
The article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/op...ounders&st=cse
Excerpts:
1)Actually, our founders were not all that new at it: the men who led the revolution against the British crown and created our political institutions were very used to governing themselves. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams and John Adams were all members of their respective Colonial legislatures several years before the Declaration of Independence. In fact, these Revolutionaries drew upon a tradition of self-government that went back a century or more. Virginians ran their county courts and elected representatives to their House of Burgesses. The people of Massachusetts gathered in town meetings and selected members of the General Court, their Colonial legislature.
2) If one wanted to explain why the French Revolution spiraled out of control into violence and dictatorship and the American Revolution did not, there is no better answer than the fact that the Americans were used to governing themselves and the French were not.
3) In the decade after the Declaration of Independence, however, many American leaders had second thoughts about what they had done (strong term limits) amid the popular enthusiasm of 1776. Since many of the state legislatures were turning over roughly 50 percent of their membership annually and passing a flood of ill-drafted and unjust legislation, stability and experience seemed to be what was most needed.
As a consequence, many leaders in the 1780s proposed major changes to their constitutional structures, including the abolition of term limits . . . The new federal Constitution, itself a reaction to the excessive populism of 1776, also did away with any semblance of term limits, much to the chagrin of Thomas Jefferson and many others uneasy over the extraordinary power of the presidency.
Political historian Gordon Wood offers a very good editorial in the NYTimes where he warned against having too many inexperienced politicians(throw all the bums out). He notes that just about all the founders were seasoned politicians with years of experience. He warns of the dangers of too many inexperienced elected officials.
Our history is more complex than the image often portrayed of farmers setting down hoes to spend two years in the legislature and then returning. Politics is a science and the worst pieces of legislation (often within state legislature with a high number of new members) that cause the greatest damage tends to come from the most inexperienced legislators. They also tend to be the most extreme.
Centrist policies and politicians, the ones that have served our nation best, generally (not always, there are always exceptions) have taken time to season. In today's complex world, this seems important to remember. It doesn't guarantee that a long-term politician is a good one by any means, but it seems important to remember the lesson that even the founder's discovered important.
The article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/op...ounders&st=cse
Excerpts:
1)Actually, our founders were not all that new at it: the men who led the revolution against the British crown and created our political institutions were very used to governing themselves. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams and John Adams were all members of their respective Colonial legislatures several years before the Declaration of Independence. In fact, these Revolutionaries drew upon a tradition of self-government that went back a century or more. Virginians ran their county courts and elected representatives to their House of Burgesses. The people of Massachusetts gathered in town meetings and selected members of the General Court, their Colonial legislature.
2) If one wanted to explain why the French Revolution spiraled out of control into violence and dictatorship and the American Revolution did not, there is no better answer than the fact that the Americans were used to governing themselves and the French were not.
3) In the decade after the Declaration of Independence, however, many American leaders had second thoughts about what they had done (strong term limits) amid the popular enthusiasm of 1776. Since many of the state legislatures were turning over roughly 50 percent of their membership annually and passing a flood of ill-drafted and unjust legislation, stability and experience seemed to be what was most needed.
As a consequence, many leaders in the 1780s proposed major changes to their constitutional structures, including the abolition of term limits . . . The new federal Constitution, itself a reaction to the excessive populism of 1776, also did away with any semblance of term limits, much to the chagrin of Thomas Jefferson and many others uneasy over the extraordinary power of the presidency.
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