By P.J. O’Rourke The Washington Post
Politicians should be licensed. Nearly every other profession has some form of accreditation or certification. In the District, more than 125 occupations require a license.
We license lawyers, doctors, teachers, accountants, plumbers, real estate brokers, marriage counselors, dental hygienists, cosmetologists, beauticians and barbers. But a politician has the power to cause more damage and expense than even the worst hair stylist.
Licensing is no cure-all, as the behavior of Washington law firms shows. Most politicians are lousy, and a license to practice won’t make them better. But creating complicated and time-consuming regulatory barriers to becoming a politician might, at least, limit the number of louses.
To qualify for a license, politicians should be rigorously educated and highly trained. In college, they need to study subjects pertinent to their field. Just eight semesters of abnormal psych might not be enough.
But let’s not send them to our best schools — we’ve tried the Ivy League before, with mixed results. Is Trump University still open?
Perhaps future politicians should study Political Science. Ha. Ha. Ha. No. If politics were a science, it would have been tried on lab rats first.
Nonetheless, aspiring politicians obviously do need BS degrees. Any class they can BS their way through will prove valuable in coming years.
More important are the academic disciplines that proto-politicos need to avoid:
