I’ve followed politics at least somewhat closely since George W. Bush’s first foray into the presidential scene. After 2004’s questionable victory by W, I developed a strong cynicism concerning all things political. Nowadays, politics is arguably a sham, dominated by individuals seeking to oust “career politicians” and somehow recapture an America that was somehow lost in the last few decades. Oh, and add more jobs. Protect small business owners. More jobs. Brown bag. Blah blah blah.
With the election and subsequent reelection of George W. Bush came one of my favorite metaphors for elected officials: same shit, different asshole. We’ve seen a lot of assholes lately, people; however, the issue is not necessarily the amount or quality of aforementioned shit, but the notion that the shit that’s been occupying our nation’s and our state’s capitals could be better replaced by, well, comparatively nothing.
To hopefully mitigate any undue or otherwise generally inflammatory response on comment boards, I want to make something clear: I don’t hate your preferred candidate, I’m merely curious as to why individuals with little to no previous government experience are suddenly all the rage.
Our current representation on the chopping block, Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. Tammy Baldwin are good people who have spent a considerable amount of time fighting for the interest of Wisconsinites and Madisonians, respectively. Each now faces opposition from individuals with no prior political experience, something I would have expected to be a major concern for the average informed voter. But much to my chagrin, both Ron Johnson and Chad Lee are generating excitement across the voting base, riding a wave of Republican and Independent enthusiasm that’s been inundating the entire country for the last year and a half. So what gives? When did it become cool to be under-qualified?
Right now we have Feingold, a Rhodes Scholar and all-around intelligent guy, who not only proved himself capable as an attorney but who managed to get elected to and serve a decade in the Wisconsin State Senate. Following his time there, he’s served in the U.S. Senate for 18 years. In his – forgive the expression, but somewhat “maverick” – role in the Senate, he’s assumed a critical role on issues from campaign finance to national security initiatives, going against his own party hundreds of times. Partisan opinion aside, at least he reads the bills before they go to vote, after all, he was the only senator to vote against the PATRIOT Act.
Then there’s Ron Johnson, the business owner with a good deal of accounting practice and his own fortunes backing him up. Political experience? Nah, not when you’re running on a platform of empowering small business owners and cutting taxes. I can respect Johnson for what he’s accomplished in his life. What he’s been able to do on his own is a testament to Americans’ initiative and capability of creating for oneself a better life, but beyond that, his lack of knowledge in the political game he may very well face next month is troubling.
Take for instance a recent campaign advertisement in which he bemoans the fact that over half of U.S. Senators are former lawyers. Now, it’s well known that many people are not big fans of lawyers, but in the case of Johnson’s ad, his anti-attorney position comes off as ignorant. Fifty-seven lawyers, Ron? You’d think it was the job of a senator to help interpret and articulate the composition, application and ramifications of law and legislation with numbers like that. What a world!
In the Second Congressional District, we’ve been represented by Tammy Baldwin, another one of them there lawyers. Before her election to the House in 1999, Baldwin also served on the City of Madison City Council, Dane County Board of Supervisors and the state Assembly. Not too shabby, no?
Chad Lee, though, an upstanding young man, is looking to challenge Baldwin for her seat. At only 27, Lee has held no political office. His only real management experience is in owning a cleaning company, something that could lend itself to a number of great little slogans concerning ‘cleaning the House’ or ‘mopping up Baldwin’s mess,’ but given his inexperience, Lee should in theory be under a little more scrutiny as to exactly what he looks to accomplish should he take the office.
What I’m interested in is this: who is voting for the newbies? What trumps solid political experience when what we need is sound judgment and leadership? The old guard is seeing an incredible amount of challenges from political upstarts, but are we getting any new ideas or doing the political equivalent of telling the greenhorn freshmen to tap the keg?
Jake Begun ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism.
