on the bounce!

This is one of the few books I've actually read outside of school that had a real lesson. Or at least I think it had a lesson to teach, I could be imagining things. It is one of the few cases in which I can utter the phrase, "The book is better than the movie." And actually mean it.

I had a nice deep thought last night, between watching Family Guy and reading up on all the crap going on in the House and Senate, I got to thinking of responsibility and this book. In the book, to run for public office (senator, president, police officer) you have to serve a term in the military. It's not like our military where the goal is larger numbers, the military in the book is smaller but more elite. Like the Marines slogan, "The Few, The Proud, The Marines" this book makes it so that if you want to serve your country (planet), then you find out mentally if you really want to serve. It's not fashionable to go through all of that just because everyone else is, but a badge of honor.

Even voting is restricted to veterans. The whole thing is summed up in a discussion between a civilian and a citizen (veteran). You can make tons of money, you can even bribe yourself a senator, but you can't vote to keep him in office. I'm not saying that it's a good system or even if it is a plausible system, but it does make you wonder if our standards for public servants is too low. Are they any requirements? US citizen. Hmm, hard only if you had to actually take the citizenship test. I failed that bad boy. What else? Money? To campaign with? That's crap.

I'm not advocating this system of government, the majority of the people I've met in a military career can not step back and look at the bigger picture. They're under-educated and probably don't even know what the bigger picture is. Some complex requirements would be necessary. Age is not a requirement, neither is citizenship. Yes it's fundamental, but you can be born into the Kennedy family and wait until you're a certain age but that doesn't make you a politican. Yes, your family has done great things for this country but that doesn't mean that you will. Prove that you're worthy of the name. Can't? Then you shouldn't run for anything.

Our soldiers overseas getting shot at on a daily basis are making an average of $2000 a month (tax free). They work anywhere from 12-20 hours a day on average, only getting two weeks off for a whole year's worth of work. That's crap pay for what they do, but they don't do it for the money. Granted everything is provided for them, but how is that different than a politicans here? Give the politicans all standard housing, pay for all the utilities but only pay them minimum wage. Maybe put a tip jar out front for them. Let's see how they like them apples.