Who wants to be a millionaire Congressman?

Why do people run for federal office these days?

Do they want to change the world, or do they want to get a piece of the action?

If we listen to the regular reports from our news sharks that cover politics, and which seem to go into overdrive feeding frenzies only on stories that involve salacious personal scandals, then Washington is filled with people who have lost control of themselves, who have become corrupted by money, power, and sex, and who have lost any sense of their real mission as representatives of The People.

It's sad, but it may be true, too:

• Our representatives have lost an appropriate sense of balance.  As one commentator put it recently when interviewed by Bill Moyers, we no longer have REAL politicians in office.  Real politicians are not idealogues.  They understand the balancing act that good government requires.  You're never going to please everyone, so figure out where the country needs to go as a whole and pursue that course.
  
• Our representatives have lost an appropriate measurement of values in government.  What needs to be most valued are actions that benefit the most, that bring happiness to the greatest number, that elevate the base conditions of the citizenry not only of this country, but of the world.  To do less is to ignore the basis of good government.  These are valid measurement criteria for government.  Saving money is only a side measurement.   Taking care of our friends back home should NEVER be the measurement.
  
  
• Our representatives have lost an appropriate sense of their own commonness.  We keep wanting, it seems, to elect an aristocracy instead of citizen lawmakers.  The Republican Party sells itself as a club, and acts like one within its own ranks.  The Democratic Party doesn't sell itself as a club, but when its members reach high public office they often turn into demagogues forgetting the little people that put them there, and fearing that they'll lose what they've gained if they're not careful.  Again, much of this has to do with the ethics of shoveling money around behind closed doors, and devising legislation that affects eveybody but themselves.
  
• Our representatives have lost an appropriate sense of personal courage.  It is the rare legislator these days that stands up for something that goes against the tide in Washington, or our state houses.  This is not the kind of thing that promotes balance, nor does it promote positive change when it's needed.  The fear that runs in our representatives may in fact be justified by the underhanded tactics used by political enemies toward one another, but to make changes, somebody needs to rise beyond the fear.  That's true courage, and it's a very scarce commodity in public office these days.

So, my fellow Americans, all we need to elect are people with

• a sense of balance in dealing with opposing views,
• the ability to properly measure what is valuable within their jurisdictions,
• a sense of their own commonness, even humility, and
• personal courage to stand against the opposing forces when they know what's right.

Anybody have somebody in mind, or does our system only work to eliminate these kind of proper leaders and politicians from getting elected?