There appears to be a growing consensus in America that our government is broken and unresponsive to the needs of the people. CNN ran a weeklong series on broken government, and many letters to this publication carry the same theme. However, we hear few solutions.

Let me present an analysis and a suggested solution.

Congress is where solutions to issues emerge. But Congress is populated with career politicians whose primary concern is to keep their job.

Over their careers they accumulate many political IOUs to their fellow congressmen and to outside interests that contribute to their reelection. In addition, they’re subject to pressure from their parties to support ideologies and strategies to weaken the other party. And they worry about reelection with the necessary solicitation of contributions and campaigning itself.

It’s a wonder that anything important emerges from Con- gress. It’s clear that the underlying root causes are politics and the never-ending battle of ideologies.

So what can be done about it?

I propose the establishment of a national pool of qualified individuals who agree to serve a limited term in Congress. Drawn from the ranks of business, academia and everyday life, this pool of patriotic Americans would assure that the concerns of Main Street are heard in Washington.

Periodically, by a random process, members would be selected to serve a single limited term—4 to 6 years—then return to their previous life. Per capita and state representation would be considered but party affiliation would not.

Freed of the pressure of party politics, outside interest and reelection, this group could focus on solutions to issues that are in the best interests of the country as a whole.

This process could even be duplicated at the state level and would be a blessing in California.

Of course such a change would require a constitutional amendment, and the chance of that is slim. However, with enough public support nationwide, we might be able to achieve at least term limits in Congress and other changes that improve the process.

The business of government is just too important to entrust to career politicians.
Jim White
Thousand Oaks