Should a citizen attempt to serve in Congress?

A citizen, that is, with no prior political experience, no track record of offices held? That is what the Founding Father's had in mind! They set up Congress with two houses. The Senate to be a more deliberative body, with six year terms. The House of Representatives was to represent immediate concerns of their constituents. Any citizen could agree to give up two years of their life to serve. They could then run for re-election, voluntarily return to civilian life - or the electorate could replace them.

Anyone could run for Congress. Being elected required convincing voters to choose you. That would take some money and a lot of time visiting with voters. As years passed, the required amount of money increased. I recently read where a long retired Congressman said his first Congressional campaign cost $30,000. Today, it takes about $1.5 million. A Senate candidate now needs $6 or $8 million.

A popular candidate may well be able to raise that amount of money. But that could be just the beginning. Former House Republican Whip Tom Delay was heaped with all sorts of charges of ethics violations. All were investigated. All were proven frivolous and dismissed. But defending himself against the claims cost Delay some $8 million in legal expenses.

Many business people are sued every year for charges that are untrue, and on the surface, readily defensible. Many, if not most of these persons, on advice of legal counsel, choose to capitulate and pay some negotiated monetary settlement. That route being less costly and requiring less time and effort than it would take to mount a successful defense.

But political office holders do not have that luxury. Ethics claims against them must be investigated... the accused have no choice but to defend themselves or be punished - perhaps with imprisonment.

Witness the case of Sarah Palin. She faced unending ethics charges, all of which have proven unfounded. But the mounting costs for her and for the State of Alaska became untenable. She resigned to stop it.

The current debate on the cost of health care has made us all aware of what we are forced to pay because of medical malpractice lawsuits. If - and the operative word here is if - a medical professional makes a mistake, how is it to be corrected? Should we all have to contribute to give the allegedly abused a huge payday?

It appears to me that if a citizen has the time and knowledge and wants to serve our country, rather than run for office, a better way would be to mount an attack on the abusive use of our legal system. The Founding Fathers created the system to assure justice for all. It has been morphed into a tool for winning political battles, buying political favors, and punishing political opponents. We can no longer afford this foolishness.