Hello Matt,

 MM> Recently politicians have had an urge to drug test
 MM> individuals on public assistance programs, but one
 MM> congressman in Florida had to give up his seat in 2013
 MM> due to his cocaine addiction after being a public
 MM> advocate for drug testing food assistance recipients.

Oh, come now.  The first rule of politics
is to get elected.  The second rule of politics
is to get re-elected.  No politician worth his
or her salt would dare violate either of those
two cardinal rules.

The politician who gave up his seat in 2013 was
obviously a sissy, having learned his lesson from
George W. Bush, who refused to give up his office
after being outed by a pretzel for drinking on
the job.  And Bill Clinton, we all know how he
got that black eye and a broken nose - it wasn't
from Ms. Lewinski.

 MM> I have a proposal that should be introduced in California
 MM> for any public official for state, county and local
 MM> offices who are elected. In exchange for receiving any
 MM> pay raise the legislator would be drug tested twice a
 MM> year randomly like professional athletes. These
 MM> individuals are representing the general public and their
 MM> actions affect vital public policy issues.

I have a better idea.  Amend the state constitution
to reflect Amendment 27 of the US Constitution - so that
no pay raise increase can occur until after the next
election.  That way, politicians can honestly claim
they are not voting for pay raises for themselves.

 MM> In my county we had a former supervisor who was addicted
 MM> to meth which caused him to miss many days of work. We
 MM> also have a current supervisor who allegedly has drug use
 MM> issues as well which makes it inconsistent with law and
 MM> order issues that deal with his tribe.

Many people are addicted to prescription drugs.  Far more
so than people who are addicted to illegal drugs.  Should
we ban drugs, or ban people/politicians from taking drugs?
If we did that, many people would die - needlessly.  And
nobody would want to serve the public in government service.

 MM> In the state of Kansas they actually do drug test the
 MM> state government executives, but perhaps we should
 MM> introduce this as a state law or a ballot proposition.

Former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke
wanted to test all welfare recipients for drugs, as
well as have all women on welfare neutered so they
could no longer reproduce like rabbits.  I guess it
was okay with Duke for the guys to keep pimpin', as
he never mentioned anything about that.  At the time
Duke made those proposals, he was a Louisiana state
representative and candidate for governor - engaged
in a runoff with Edwin Edwards.

Louisiana residents had bumper stickers on their
cars that read "Vote for the crook, it's important"

Both Edwards and Duke wound up going to prison.

 MM> This reform will not happen in San Bernardino County,
 MM> since one of the wealthiest members of the board will
 MM> block these reforms. However, we have to take this on the
 MM> state level. I encourage my local elected officials to
 MM> propose this as a reform

Politics is an honorable profession.  As such, we should
not disparage those who give of themselves to serve the
public in ways most people would never contemplate doing.

Most politicians are good, honest, law-abiding citizens
who honestly try to help those whom they have been elected
or appointed to serve.  Only a handful have misused or
abused their positions in order to enrich themselves, or
act in ways unbecoming of what people expect of them.

We should not make the assumption that all politicians
are bad or evil people.  After all, government is "we the
people" - meaning government is us.

--Lee

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