Every week Rick Pluta, Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network, and I take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of state politics. And, this week it's all about the political Catch-22 of running for office as a 'political outsider.'
So, dear citizen, you think that things aren't working in Lansing or in Washington, D.C.
That's bad. Very, bad.
So, you decide to run for office. You file the paperwork, you campaign... and you win as a political outsider! Maybe, you even beat a long-time political incumbent. You're now off to the state Capital - or, even, the nation's Capital - and you're ready to shake things up.
That's good.
Well, actually... it just might be bad.
Why, you ask? Because the moment you take the oath of office, good citizen, you are now part of the system - you are a political insider. You, now, are an incumbent.
So, being a political insider is bad?
Not necessarily.
It can actually be good... take a listen (at the link above) and find out why.
