Is it time that a law be passed rewarding or punishing politicians based on their performance in office? The idea, suggested by American comedian Andy Borowitz, sounds appealing. Unfortunately, as columnist Patrik Etschmayer of Switzerland’s News laments, who would pass it?
For Switzerland’s News, Patrik Etschmayer writes in part:
In one of the very amusing articles on his Web site The Borowitz Report, American comedian Andy Borowitz has conjured up the satirical vision of a law under which representatives of the people would only be compensated on the basis of performance.
The fictitious reactions of leading politicians to this bill are at the center of the satire: “If passed, this law would be tantamount to the establishment of ‘Work Panels’ which would determine whether individual Congressmen are accomplishing anything …. I for one would be in deep trouble,” Says Republican Eric Cantor in Borowitz’s article. And John Boehner, currently President Obama ’s leading opponent, is made to say that, “creating performance standards for lawmakers was an “insult to the institution of Congress … we have spent millions of dollars, some of it out of our own pockets, to get to Washington … We did not come here to be treated like teachers!”
The sad thing is that such an idea would be met with exactly this reaction, since politics are still conducted as a kind of art, which consists primarily of obscuring the difference between fine words and suboptimal levels of reality, while being pressed to please voters in time for the next election. And in a democracy, those who excel at this juggling act apparently earn the most votes.
Perhaps the idea of performance-based compensation for politicians really deserves to be taken out of the realm of satire and into reality. But that will probably remain a pious dream. After all, who would make the decisions on such legislation? Exactly. Politicians.
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