Cooks Performing Brain Surgery
You are in a hospital and very sick. The gardener is doing your medical exam while he consults with the hair stylists as they prepare to proceed with surgery on you. Ridiculous scenario isn’t it? Ridiculous, because our country has established requirements and regulations for a career in medicine. Despite the years of education and sacrifice, they must still pass strenuous exams before they can qualify. This does not guarantee success in their profession. Indeed, this is the case for most careers.
This is not so if you are applying for the most powerful position in the world, or for that matter to run for any public office in the U.S. We have have permitted incompetence to prevail in our higher office and yet we demand the respect of the world. Shouldn’t our leadership reflect then who we are.
Lower level civil service employees are put through an extensive screening process. They must pass a number of tests and have good qualifications before they are considered for any position. Then why are the positions for Congressmen, President, Governors and state and local elected officials not put through the same extensive qualifications.
It is high time to apply the same requirements to all levels of government service. I propose a stringent set of exams be given to all prospective candidates prior to running for public office. These exams should be designed to test the depths of their knowledge, skills and understanding. The results of these test should be made public as they are applying to the public for their jobs. The public can then make an informed decision. We wouldn’t have to rely on rhetoric or sound bites to make our decisions.
I aim to write to all the political entities out there and see what responses I recieve. I will be posting them on The Davidian Post. Let’s hope we have a positive response.
Filed under: Editorial