ABC's Diane Sawyer pointed out that this year the largest number of freshman congressmen and women in this nation’s history are moving into their Washington offices and beginning their congressional experience. Thirty-five freshmen have never held office of any kind before.
One of them owns and works in a pizza shop and worked his last day there before leaving to be a congressman.
This bit of news leaves me in a quandary.
Usually, I want experienced people in any job, but the thought that these people are not tainted by the ideas of a practiced politician is pleasing to me on one hand, but scary to me on the other.
It’s refreshing to think that the citizens of this nation may well get some new inventive ideas injected into the mix to get this country running right and respected as a world power again.
The scary part is they have to learn the ways of congress from those politicians who have voted on bills and bailouts that put this country in the current economic mess. The same congress people who have made a career of being a congressperson (which I personally feel should be outlawed) will be in charge of these beginners.
I can only hope that these freshmen can keep their minds open and not be swayed by the seasoned politicians who may try to convince them to change their thinking to the party’s majority outlook.
We all know politics is a game played by two parties that have forgotten their purpose is not to best their opponent party, but to make things better for their country. That’s sad, but it is true, except that now we have the Tea Party trying to cut the pie into thirds.
This turn about from a Democratic congress to a Republican one may be a good thing because of these freshmen if they have the guts to stuck to their ideals and insist on new solutions to old problems and not be swayed by the power they now have and the lobbyists enticing deals.
We sure can't keep going as we have in the past. As the classic Bob Dylan song said, "The times they are a changin'."
My hopes are pinned on the changes actually helping this country.