Forget "Voting "Em Out": Here's the Real Remedy for Bad Legislators

In case you don't know by now, we can keep 'em in, or vote 'em out, and still get the same result: our legislators do whatever they want once they're in office...which is most assuredly whatever their highest bidders demand, no matter what was promised us on the campaign trail....right?

That's because we've been approaching this from the wrong perspective: we've been "treating the symptom" rather than curing the disease.

And what is the disease that, if cured, will make our legislators much more beholdin' to us, more connected to our reality vs. their insular world, and get them doing something of substance once in office?

I call it the "Royalty Syndrome." If we eliminate it, we will see the kinds of action we so deserve from our elected officials.

The Royalty Syndrome is based on the following facts of public office in the U.S., particularly on the national level (but we see it on the State & Local levels too, just to a degree that diminishes the farther from Washington they are):

• Legislators are treated like...well...royalty...with all sorts of perks, assistants, deference, and special programs (like their own terrific health-care plan)
• With such treatment and expectations, they quickly and easily lose focus on their constituents, replaced by a sense of self-importance
• Once they've had a taste of such royal treatment, no way do they want to lose it...so they'll do anything/everything to avoid that

Here's the cure:

• Eliminate their perks, from special health-care plans to town cars & loads of assistants (they can have one...just like other managers in the real world)
• As a Legislator, your children must attend public school
• Pay them the equivalent of the average wage-earner's salary in the US, which is $81,400 according to the Census Bureau (members of Congress currently make $174,000)
• They cannot travel by means other than public transportation (cabs in town, commercial airlines across country) and they must fly coach

There's more we can add to the list, be these are great starters.

This does a number of things to hit the proverbial "reset" button back to true representation of us, not special interests:

1. Eliminates those who run because they love power and prestige (which right now is almost everyone...I've always believed that anyone who wants the office is someone I wouldn't want in it, because they desire it for the wrong reasons...)
2. Replaces them with folks who don't mind hard work, are not in it for self-aggrandizement, and will want to get in, get the job done, and get out
3. Eliminates what is right now a very insular culture within the ranks of Legislators, fed and magnified by their "royal" treatment - when they are treated like the rest of us, they will act like "regular folks"
4. Serves as a constant reminder that they are servants of the people, not Emirs

Only when our legislators are treated like the rest of us will they remember who we are, what their real purpose is, and what is needed by the majority of citizens.

So, my fellow Boomers, this is what you want to be pushing for, rather than staying with the same tired approach we've been using all of our adult lives, that simply hasn't worked.

How's that for change?

"The Daughter Trap" by Laurel Kennedy

The new book, The Daughter Trap, Taking Care of Mom and Dad...and You, is written with much love by Laurel Kennedy: love for our elderly first, then for those of us who pretty much give up having a life to care for them when they become incapable of living on their own.

Although filled with excerpts from interviews with a cross-section of Boomers, from the youngest to the oldest of us, men and women, those caring for their own parents and those caring for in-laws, all of which serve well to let fellow Boomers know they're not in this alone (and giving voice to the sadness, frustration, overwhelm, and myriad other emotions that go along with this gargantuan responsibility), what is most useful are her concrete action steps to be taken, resources to be accessed, and social/media discrimination that must be changed.

Men still expect women to be the primary caretakers...even of their own parents, and our parents expect that, too; the media is rightly on top of the lack of services/resources for children in need, but still far too often ignore the fact that little exists for the aged and those who care for them. The few progressive/innovative programs that are out there, or trying to start, designed to give our parents wonderful choices for living fully even if they cannot do it independently, get little help or attention.

Boomers have, and continue to, change entire mind-sets, social values, and communal expectations. Laurel Kennedy makes it abundantly clear that this, the way we care for our elders and the emphasis needed on this issue if our society is ever to get to even adequate let alone stellar around it, must be our new fight. Good thing it doesn't require sit-ins...that's a little too painful at this point in our lives... It requires instead the use of our formidable influence in government and the halls of commerce, our consistent attention to the issue with the media, and our Boomer-proven determination to right another wrong.

Only we have the power and the ability to make this change; taking elder care from back- to front-burner.

Read Laurel's book to find out why, and get some wonderful ideas on how, while you glean some very useful ideas/resources for elder-care if you are doing so now, or are about to take it on soon.

Then get on your Boomer high horse and start demanding better for them; in your community; in the nation.

It's what we do, and our parents deserve it.