Group Think

Yesterday there was a short piece in the local paper about a candidate for city council. While he seems like a qualified individual, what concerns me is that he currently works for the City. And this is a disturbing trend. That people whose only or major life experiences have been in government seem to dominate the policy-making side.

Another current Seattle City Councilwoman, Sally Clark, prior to her appointment then subsequent election, had also only worked for the City of Seattle. Several of the candidates for local office are government employees.

And in our state capital, the governor, who has been in government in some form or fashion for a very long time, only appoints Olympia insiders to commissions and other positions. For instance, the Wildlife Commission is now dominated by current employees of the University of Washington, the Washington State Department of Health, and numerous retirees of various governmental positions.

I tend to think that having outsiders, people who come from life experiences other than the government, is vitally important for our democracy.

But what concerns me is it seems people from life experiences other than government are not running for office. Perhaps with all the news pressures, the 24/7 media, the no holes barred bloggers who feel no shame in exposing every little detail about a candidate, perhaps those things are barriers to well qualified people running for office.

However, if we end up with a government run by only insiders, our democracy will continue to whither.