"Until the late 1960s, with the exception of a few big states, most legislatures met for only a few months a year - some met only every other year - and there were few professional politicians among their members. People viewed public service as a necessity rather than as a career, and so duty was done quickly so they could return to their farms and shops to work just like everybody else."
Legislative necessity: A constitutional certification for all bills
Richard Moore at the Lakeland Times writes about what needs to be done in state and federal government.
Admirable though it was in many ways, the citizen Legislature had resulted in what many thought was a severely distorted balance of power. Because legislators were rarely in the capital, state agencies ran the show, along with party bosses and a few good-'ol-boy legislative kingpins.
Professionalism was welcomed, then, in the beginning. The thinking was, a professional, full-time Legislature would re-establish its authority, with the proper reforms, and power would flow back to the elected body.
Well, the times, they have a-changed, and things didn't turn out quite as expected. In fact, exactly the opposite has happened.
You need to read it to see what he proposes and hope politicians have the back bone to follow through with what they promised in November.
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