Shut Up

Bob has an interesting point over at 55-40 has a good post about Networx and Herman Morris. I agre with what he says but especially at the end when he talks about Herman's business sense. Most people have used his experience in business as a reason to vote for him.

With all due respect, shut the hell up. I am sick and tired of good Democrats voting for DINO's and Republicans because they have good business sense. Guess what, they maybe able to run a business successfully, but that doesn't mean you can a government. Give me a better reason for voting for Herman than he can run a successful business. So can William Clay Ford, but the Lions stink so success in one doesn't translate.

My sister is a good Democrat who lives in Jacksonville. When I talk to her about her mayor, she doesn't say much about him as a mayor, she talks about his background as an executive of Gate Petroleum. John Peyton is only the second Republican in 100 years to win election to mayor. He won reelection overwhelmingly. He won initially because of a lot of cross over votes.

You see this in a lot of medium to large cities especially in the South. Why? A disbursed population with a severe lack of a professional bureaucracy. This causes the population to turn to the business communities for mayors and other high end posts. Hey guess what, you hire people from industry, you end up with graft and corruption, witness the Bush administration.

I am not saying that all business leaders make bad, corrupt political leaders. What I am saying is that we as Democrats have few high end business leaders that can be called true or near progressives. When we see them we fall all over ourselves wanting to appoint them or elect them to higher and higher positions, ignoring flaws and placing faith where it might not belong.

Just remember, success in one doesn't mean success in others. Ask yourselves and others why this successful business person should get your vote, will he or she be a good political leader, can this person build consensus among different factions, is this candidate one who likes to go it alone, can they say no to their former contemporaries, what have they done to improve the public good not related to their job? These are some, what else can you ask? Remember, be skeptical of all politicans.

JC out