DUMP THE
INCUMBENTS! 26 reasons from A-Z
By Michael Boyd and Paul Frey
Dump the Incumbents!
by Michael Boyd and
Paul Frey
Copyright 2007
All rights reserved.
Public service is honorable and
admirable, and we are grateful to
those who serve as our elected
officials. However, the terminal
disease of American democracy is
incumbency. The problem is not the
incumbent. The problem is chronic
incumbency.
Professional politicians, the
incumbent ruling class, have
paralyzed the most vibrant and
robust political system the world
has ever seen. In a relentless
quest for more power, more
influence, and more fame and
fortune, they are slowly but surely
destroying the thing to which they
desperately cling.
The
American farmer learned long ago
that the same crop, planted in the
same field, produces less and less
every season. Each year the yield
is smaller as the crop becomes more
prone to disease, less able to
withstand drought, heat, wind, or
any hardship at all. Eventually the
field fails to produce enough to
cover the cost and effort of
planting.
The
political fields of Washington,
DC—Republican, Democrat, and
Independent—are failing us. The
strong and healthy few are unable to
support the many that are weak and
frail. We the People are
responsible for this failure. We,
and only we, can solve this problem.
Our
nation was founded on the principle
of the “farmer statesman.” Our
founders knew the value of constant
rotation in our elected officials.
They saw the benefit of changing
political leadership to bring in the
most current thinking from society.
Today’s incumbent officeholder has
become more and more insulated from
the pressures and struggles that we,
their constituents, face every day.
Their decisions seem to have only
one purpose: to get themselves
re-elected. They have lost their
passion for preserving freedom, the
primary principle our
Constitution was written to
protect.
The
balance of power has shifted from
the citizens to the incumbents. The
pendulum has swung much too far in
the incumbents’ favor. We the
People are a powerful force but,
because of incumbency, We the People
now feel powerless.
We
are not powerless. True patriotism
in our country calls for citizens to
be involved and to take control of
the actions of our elected
officials. As our Declaration of
Independence states, it is [our]
duty to “throw off such Government,
and to provide new guards for [our]
future Security."
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should
not be changed for light and
transcient Causes, and accordingly
all Experience hath shewn, that
Mankind are more disposed to suffer
while Evils are sufferable, than to
right themselves by abolishing the
Forms to which they are accustomed.
But
when a long train of Abuses and
Usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object, evinces a Design to
reduce them under absolute
Despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new
guards for their future Security.
Declaration of Independence
America is at its best when the will
of the people directs the actions of
the country. Throughout our
country’s brief history, our destiny
has been determined by the citizens
of this great nation. We have
spoken up and spoken out time and
time again when faced with
adversity. War, civil strife, and
economic upheaval have all been met
with our loud voice, through our
elected representatives. Chronic,
widespread incumbency silences that
powerful voice.
As
more seats in government are filled
by incumbents, fewer new ideas
emerge. Incumbency, by its nature,
gradually weakens the relationship
between elected officials and the
constituents they represent. They
don’t need to “meet and greet” us
any more. They don’t seek out our
concerns. Consequently, we see them
less and less. They in turn focus
their attention elsewhere on
colleagues, lobbyists, and
“others.”
When
incumbents can be re-elected by just
placing their name on the ballot,
why would they go to the trouble of
asking us for our opinions? A more
compelling question is, “Why do we
make it so easy for our elected
officials to remain incumbents?”
Are we lazy, ignorant, apathetic, or
so cynical that we just don’t care
any more? We think not.
Our
history demonstrates that the
American people, when unified and
provoked, are unstoppable. By
eliminating chronic incumbency in
our government, we will strengthen
our voice, make our elected
officials more accountable, create
new solutions to old problems, and
make our government more
efficient.
X
is for X-Rated
Incumbency is obscene. It is vulgar
and coarse. It is offensive when
you actually pay attention to what’s
being said and done by the
people who were elected, to
the people who elected them.
Because of our numbness, it takes
incidents that are more and more
graphic to get our attention. They
are so graphic, they become
pornographic—they become x-rated.
How
many elected officials have to be
indicted before we are offended?
How many out-and-out lies do we have
to listen to before we are
awakened? How many more allegations
of bribes, political favors, and
corruption do we have to endure? In
1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Potter Stewart defined pornography
by saying, “I know it when I see
it.” Well, we know it, too, because
we see it. We see it all too
often and it’s sickening.
Our
expectations are that our elected
officials will bring a high level of
personal integrity and a sound,
moral framework to their elected
offices. The same principles that
guide our personal lives should
guide their political lives. We
don’t vote for criminal behavior
when we vote for our elected
officials. But more and more,
that’s what we get. At the very
least, we get unethical behavior,
and it’s offensive. The
unwillingness of our elected
officials to adhere to commonly
accepted ethical behavior is
intolerable.
The
standard for our elected officials’
behavior is prescribed in our
country’s founding documents. We
can continue to raise the bar with
every Election Day. Let’s take
politics out of the x-rated theater
and bring it back to the family
viewing hour.
The
vices of the rich and great are
mistaken for error; and those of the
poor and lowly, for crimes.
Lady
Marguerite Blessington, Countess of
Blessington, 1789 – 1849