The country needs to return to citizen — not career — legislators

It appears that Bertram de Souza has a double standard when it comes to career politicians and their effectiveness. In his Sunday past column he asks the question; what does Carol Righetti offer?

Let me start by saying, I couldn’t agree more with his overall premise and conclusions. In my view, given Ms. Righetti’s employment history it isn’t very likely that she is qualified, let alone willing, to do what needs to be done to fix our financially strapped county government. Mr. de Souza makes it a point to emphasize that her entire career has been spent feeding at the public trough. By contrast, he correctly points out that Mr.Ludt has operated a successful business for several decades. Before entering politics Mr. Ludt had established himself in business, created jobs in the private sector and contributed to the tax base of the community. This is how it should be.

Here’s where the rub comes for me with Mr. de Souza. When it comes to Tim Ryan, he goes to great lengths to tell us every chance he gets, no matter the venue, that the congressman is a great asset to us here in the 17th district. He openly gushes on TV and the radio that young Ryan is a “rising star” in the Democratic Party.

So what? The national polls suggest that the Democrat’s may have their own iceberg (to borrow de Souza’s analogy) waiting for them in November. If that’s the case, what good is a “rising star” if the ship he is on is sinking?

Mr. Ryan is just as much of a career politician and a fixture at the public trough as Ms. Righetti, if not more so. Let’s bring back the notion of a “citizen legislator” that was originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

Take a good hard look at this county, state, and country. Many of our problems are a direct result of entrenched career politicians who enjoy lives of privilege wholly insulated from the consequences of their actions.

Rocco J. Parro, Poland