I was reading some comments to Alan Grayson's diary and it reminded me of something I heard on Bill Maher's show last week, from astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson (http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/... ). Paraphrased, he asked "Why are all the politicians lawyers? Where are the scientists, the teachers, the engineers, the doctors, the artists, the librarians, etc.? Where's the rest of life?" (I added a few of those myself, I believe, but the context is the same...).
That line: "Where's the rest of life?" really resonated with me.
It made me think -- we focus on the gender and racial imbalance in Congress and other elected positions (and that is important), but how often do you hear anyone talk about the occupation/interests of elected politicians? The ways that some occupations/vocations/avocations train one to think makes a huge impact on one's perspective on life/politics/people.
Dr. Tyson said something along the lines of "Lawyers are trained to argue -- in law, it's not about who's right, it's about who argues best." Also, "The act of arguing and not agreeing seems to be fundamental to that profession and Congress is HALF that profession!"(The paraphrases in this diary are mine, and should not be exactly attributed to Dr. Tyson.)
...and we're surprised when a governing body made up mostly of lawyers ends up in gridlock? :-)
However, I'm not so much interested in why there's gridlock as I am in how we might be able to change things so that we have a more representative government. Granted, a lot of folks in other professions or jobs will have no interest in entering politics -- I have an interest in politics, but not in becoming a politician or running for office (and I was educated and trained as a librarian). Ditto for my husband, the salesman/marketing expert.
There have to be folks in other walks of life -- scientists, teachers, janitors, electricians, writers, programmers, designers, retail workers, doctors, artists, engineers, salespeople, librarians, nurses, unemployed single mothers, social workers, community organizers, whatever -- who would be interested in becoming part of government if they thought there was a) a chance they'd be taken seriously, and b) a chance of actually making a difference.
It makes me think of Al Franken -- he was a comedian, not a lawyer. ...and he's rapidly becoming one of our most thoughtful and responsible politicians. (Who'd-a-thunk it? Not that he'd become a good senator...but that I'd use the terms "thoughtful" and "responsible" in connection with "politician"!!! :-).
There's a pipeline where the national politicians usually come from -- the local and regional government (like Obama did) -- and it often seems that the vocational representation at that level is more diverse -- I wonder if that is just my impression? If, however, it's true, the question is why do the lawyers move on up and why not the rest of the group? If I'm mistaken, I guess the question is how do we get more a more diverse group into the pipeline?
Somehow, I keep coming back to campaign finance reform -- if we had public financing of all campaigns, perhaps those who aren't connected to the money people could actually get elected. Unfortunately, I think that's a ways off. :-( ...and I'm afraid we may have to hit rock-bottom with that before we manage to get something done. However, I thought that about health care reform, and something did get done -- it may be constantly threatened (and less than I wanted), but something did get done. :-)
I don't really have any solutions, but I think it's a good conversation to have -- and honestly, I think it's a conversation we need to have. I'd rather talk about this and brainstorm over it, than complain about the myriad ways I'm at least somewhat disappointed with President and the Democratic party (or the ways I'm deeply disappointed). I'd also rather talk about this than drive myself further insane with wondering what in the heck has happened to common sense in this country (and, yes, I do recognize that the phrase "common sense" is oxymoronic :-).
When it comes to politics (and lawyers), I echo Dr. Tyson, "Where's the rest of life?".