I think this is appropriate to your quote of Teddy Roosevelt. Too many of us are and have been content to enjoy the fruits of so much labor and sacrifice, as if we had a right to so many amazing blessings without any effort on our own part.

Thank you for your comments. I certainly didn’t intend to suggest that “accomplishment” by an elected official requires or is measured by whether they expanded or added to the status quo. Just the opposite – as you mentioned, a most significant “accomplishment” would be to successfully discern and reverse unnecessary ongoing expense and government regulation. (Please see my “blog” on reducing government – “Keeping a Lid on It”). While serving in the State Legislature and observing what is done in Washington, I have often thought that perhaps we should pass a law that requires our elected representatives to repeal two old laws before they can pass one new law. I say that in jest but what you have described fits within my intended meaning of “accomplishment”. I watch for and support elected officials who have that perspective and commitment. That is why we oppose unneeded “pork” in the Federal budget in the form of unfounded “earmarks” that are added each year by individual members of Congress (often anonymously).

I once heard a Presidential Candidate tell young people that he hoped they would consider politics as a “wonderful career”. I cringed because it is “public service” and was never intended to be “a career”. The Founders sacrificed much and pledged their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” to establish our nation. Washington and Jefferson, for example, longed for the day when they could return (without elaborate public pensions, etc.) to their private life. How do today’s fulltime elected members of Congress sometimes retire with greater personal wealth than when they began their service? Sadly, Congress has established and perpetuated such a “seniority system” that it now fosters career politicians who are increasingly out of touch with everyday life in America. You might want to read “Restoration” by columnist George Will. He makes a very compelling case for Congressional term limits for the very reasons that you have mentioned.

I trust that these thoughts are responsive to the concerns that you raised. Thank you so much for your insights and sharing your thoughts with me.

What exactly do you classify as “accomplishment” of a governmental official? If an elected official heads to the US Senate with the understanding that he should “accomplish something” isn’t that giving him incentive to create job security for himself? Isn’t that the source of all the “government overlap, waste, duplicity and inefficiency?”

In my mind, the best thing any elected official can do is strive to put himself out of a job, working to make it so that he is not needed full time, thus giving a disincentive to career politicians and political parties whose main purpose is to obtain and hold an office, rather than serve the people who elect them.