Our government and the NFL draft
This morning I was going through the primary election booklet we received from the County, and, later, we had lunch at a local restaurant that had a screen running parts of the NFL draft. And I realized something very interesting (to me, anyway).
Those kids hoping to get drafted have been playing football for years, probably starting early in high school or before. They're out there playing their hearts out, knowing there's no place to hide on that field. Sure they're thinking about the money (heck, I would be too), but they're working like hell to show the scouts they know what they're doing and are qualified for the big time. And the ones who get drafted are only beginning: they have to spend the rest of their careers proving that they can do the job they were hired for. The vast majority of them do.
Meanwhile, anybody, with absolutely no qualifications, can run for office... and some of them win. I read some of the blurbs on the candidates for various positions (including governor, senate, and house), and it was mind-blowing. Heck, I have better qualifications than some of them said they had. All they have to do is convince enough other people to vote for them, which they do by spending donated money. That's it. And when they get in office they can proceed to not do the job they were elected to do and still keep the job.
The other part I find interesting is that, in Congress, these elected lawmakers get to vet people nominated for various jobs: cabinet officials, general officers in the military, and many others. Yet nobody vetted them. And half the time approving someone or not approving them is a political trade-off anyway: "I'll vote for your guy if you vote for mine."
I don't have a clue how this could be changed, or if it should, but I find it fascinating.
