Throw the bums out...but leave my ass alone

Throw the bums out...but leave my ass alone!

When reading social media posts it seems a lot of people agree that the current people in congress need to be tossed out of office on their rears. As a whole, most Americans agree we need to replace them with new, younger politicians that are… well…just new.

And while the idea of electing new representatives is appealing it does have its downside. We seem to forget that “new” translates to “inexperienced” when it comes to holding national offices. When it comes to the people that represent our community most of us prefer someone that knows what they’re doing. And that’s the reason why “throwing the bums out” or “draining the swamp” will never happen.

While we all agree that members of Congress from almost any other part of the country need to go, we don’t think our local politicians need to suffer the same fate. The reason that we, those of us that share a community, have a problem voting out the people is obvious. The candidate that we elected and sent to congress to represent us, our local politicians, you know… the ones that are working for our communities and doing a good job… well we want to leave them in office.

Because, no matter how evil, corrupt, incompetent or just plain unqualified all the members in the House of Representatives, the Senate or the White House are collectively, we usually think that, individually, our local politicians are doing just fine. Local politicians are the ones we get to meet at the local supermarket or the town hall. They are the ones that return our calls and stand at the local train or bus station greeting us in the morning on the way to work.

They are the ones that fight for the funds our community businesses or local schools need to improve… or just keep functioning. All those other members in congress, those guys that we don’t know, who never do anything for us, they’re the ones that need to go.

Every election year we all cry out “Let’s throw the bums out!” We want to clean house and get rid of the politicians that populate the “swamp.” Yet, despite the national resolve to replace those politicians that have held office to the point where they are national celebrities; politicians that are hated by voters everywhere, the truth is, even though Americans across the nation hate them, the people that actually vote for them, the people whose votes put them in office are the ones that count on them.

Any politician with the experience, clout and ability to deliver the things that a community, city or state depends on is almost always going to be re-elected. When it comes to judging any politician we, as a people, are better suited to do that on a local level.

Mitch McConnell is one of the most reviled politicians In the Senate. If everyone in America could vote he wouldn’t just be kicked out of office he would be stripped of his citizenship and deported to a country as far from America as possible.

The problem is that the only people who get to vote when he’s running for office live in Kentucky. As long as he services the needs of the voters in Kentucky he’s not going anywhere. That scenario is played out all over the country in every election.

We all want to see fresh faces with new ideas but when it comes to the face that represents our community we feel comfortable with the face we know and are familiar with. We prefer a representative that already knows how to do the job rather than one who is learning as he goes.Once elected, a politician has to really screw-up before most people will vote them out of office.

Sure, Washington may be a swamp, but “we the people” are the ones that keep restocking it with the same political parasites and predators that feed off all Americans.

We will never be able to throw their bums out as long as we continue to leave our own ass alone.