Letter: Does a congressman really need experience?

One of the strange adages/canards one hears (or hears implied) these days, is that you don’t need to know anything to be in politics. In fact, knowledge or experience may be a bad thing.

Those who argue for term limits seem to imply that experience causes incompetence and corruption. That we need to discard the vote of the people and transparency (public monitoring of their actions), and replace them with something more reliable, i.e., government regulation.

Maybe I’m confused, but I always thought education/experience were desirable. They are in employment interviews, particularly if the job is complicated, or important. Evidently, with term limits (or Trump) it’s just the opposite.

The first goal of any politician is to get re-elected. With two-year terms for 435 representatives, it’s easy to see why. Due to the millions needed to get re-elected, they now must spend over half a day (average) dialing for dollars (calling people for donations).

Term limits would also drastically increase the number of retirement packages. The retirement package for one, 40-year representative, (assuming four-year term limits) would be replaced with 10 packages.

Does a congressman/representative really need experience? … a dentist or doctor?

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 4:27 AM with the headline "Letter: Does a congressman really need experience?."