I'm staying with a theme here My last few articles have discussed my frustration with our political system in general and our politicians in particular. I've spent a fair amount of time ranting and complaining to get that which aggravates me off my chest. So what I am going to do here is present a small solution to some of the problems that have with our legislators.
Years ago, I was fortunate enough to win a local election for a seat on my local school board. Within a week of the certification of the election, I was notified that the state school board association was running a voluntary series of training sessions for new school board members on three consecutive Saturdays. This twenty hour training would then be followed up by three additional training sessions throughout the course of our first year in office. For those of us who completed this training, the State School Boards Association would recognize you at their annual dinner.
I attended those training sessions dutifully and learned many skills that made me a much more effective and, yes, non-partisan school board member for the next eight years. I also went to two days of follow up training every year. This was not to rip off the public [school boards in my state are not paid positions], but to learn just what the details of my ever changing role would be.
One of the things that shocked me during that first year whas that there were almost 80 school districts in the region that I attended training in. In those districts, there were over 300 new board members. At the beginning of training there were only 23 new board members present. By the time the training was completed, only 11 of us were recognized for completing the entire course of study from my region.
This has always kept me thinking. None of us who are elected to any office are fully knowledgeable of all the roles or nuances of those roles that we are going to face in office. What most of us get is briefing from our party bosses about what the party expects from you as a junior member and the advice to stay low during your first term while you "learn the ropes." Then, by the end of your first term, you are either so frustrated with the system, you leave or you become a lackey within the system you had delusions of changing just a few years before.
What I am proposing is that every politician be required to attend and PASS a 60 to 120 hour non-partisan course or set of courses on the role of government, economics, foreign policy, etc. The course content and length would differ for the office and the requirements of that office. A part time county commissioner would have a different and shorter course requirement than a U.S. senator or the President of the United States. These courses would be apolitical, taught by people with appropriate degrees with curricula approved by non-partisan groups.
While not ending gridlock in the political sphere, this might give our elected and appointed {yes, judges, ambassadors, and cabinet members included}officials a greater knowledge of what their jobs entail and what their obligations are to the American people. The time to do this is also built in since there is a transitional time between election day and installation to the office. At least with a plan like this, those that represent us would have to have demonstrated that they understand governance and have at least passed a course of study in that field. After all we require that of doctors, dentists, lawyers, and teachers. Shouldn't we raise politicians to at least that level?
What do you think?
