American Democracy (1)

2009 is not generally an election year but Governors of Virginia and New Jersey will be elected next month.

There is a joke circulating on the Internet:

Politicians should be limited to two terms: one in office, the second in jail.

Like many of the best jokes, it has a large element of truth but this one tells us nothing really new. Comedian Will Rogers famously said: "[America] has the best Congress money can buy."

Mark Twain, in the 19th century, spoke more directly: "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress."

Since I live in Virginia, I will have the opportunity to vote for a new Governor next month. Given that the world would likely be a better place were, with a very few exceptions, "forever" politicians to became extinct, the following principles are worth considering:

• Rule 1 - vote against the incumbent
• Rule 2 - if no incumbent, vote against the lawyer
• Rule 3 - if no incumbent, and both candidates are lawyers, vote against the candidate of the party of the retiring office holder
• Rule 4 - if no lawyers are running.... (come to think of it that will never happen, so there is no need for a rule!)

It is a sad commentary on the state of our politics that there are so few politicians worth voting for.