Tim Ragsdale: Make it tougher to become a career politician
Re “Clinton’s tawdry dealings can’t be ignored” (Another View, Aug. 20): Campaign donations are more accurately called bribes. Bribes are one of the most talked-about subversions of our democracy. However, nothing over the past century has contributed more to the demise of the American experiment than the career politician.
They surrounded themselves with loyal “public servants” who insulate them from the electorate. They have passed laws that affect everyone, except themselves. They voted themselves obscene salaries and a guaranteed retirements. We are forced to pay for a ruling class living in luxury while the majority of us eke out a living in the real world. This sounds like the tyranny that early American settlers wanted to escape.
Limiting campaign donations might help, but the only way to set our country back on the right track is to impose term limits on all elected offices, eliminate pensions for politicians and exempt no one from the law.
Tim Ragsdale, Modesto
This story was originally published August 22, 2016 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Tim Ragsdale: Make it tougher to become a career politician."