Originally posted by reeftool I have started my own policy of voting out incumbents. On the last election I only voted for 2 incumbents and they had not yet served a full term due to being appointed after the previous person resigned. I will be happy to vote them out next time if I'm not happy.
Voting out incumbents blindly just because because you are not happy with the political environment is just silly. While there are a lot of incumbents that are propagating problems in Washington, there are a few who are good. Every politician should be judged on:
- Are they capable of taking on responsibility?
- Do they solve problems academically, or are they partisan hacks (aka. will they use their brain)?
- Can they work with other people to get things done?
- Do they perceive reality? (aka. you cannot bring the deficit under control by just cutting expenses or by just cutting taxes, both need to happen)
I think the most important criteria is that politicians need to look at issues in an academic (what is best) sort of way, rather than a political way. I do not care if a politician is an incumbent, republican, democrat, independent, etc. We should all vote for politicians that are willing to look at what is best and make real compromises to get things done.