Yeah, Right, Whatever

When our nation was founded, the men who were elected to the federal Legislature had real jobs. They were farmers, doctors, publishers, shopkeepers. They went to Washington, DC, they did the Nation's business, and then they went home to carry on their own business.

Somewhere along the way, the rules changed. Maybe it was because of corruption, maybe it was something else. Now, Senators are no longer allowed to earn outside income. So much for being a "regular citizen".

There's a Senator who wants to buck the system... sort of. Before Tom Coburn ran for the House, and then the Senate from Oklahoma, he was a doctor. Not just any doctor, he was an OB/GYN, an increasingly rare breed of doctor. While he was a Representative, he kept his practice open without making a profit. Now that he's a Senator, they're trying to tell him to shut down his practice.

Senate rules generally bar lawmakers from earning outside income. Coburn, an obstetrician, wants to practice medicine on weekends and during breaks and said he will take his cause to the Senate floor.

Coburn agreed not to take any new patients after a Dec. 2 letter from the Ethics Committee outlined the long-standing rules barring outside professional activities. But he has continued to give exams and deliver babies.

In his six years in the House, where he was known as an outspoken maverick, Coburn was allowed to continue practicing medicine without making a profit.

He said the Senate may regret forcing him to give up his medical practice.

"There's going to be a whole lot of heck to pay up here because if I am working up here five solid days a week, I'm going to create all sorts of mischief, much more so than I would otherwise," he said.

In a letter to Coburn dated March 18, Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Tim Johnson, D-S.D., the chairman and vice chairman of the ethics committee, said they would not support a change in the Senate rules, the Tulsa World reported.

Coburn says continuing to practice medicine is a good way to stay connected with voters back home.

"The very idea that my practice would influence negatively my ability to represent or would coerce through a conflict of interest my votes on things is totally ludicrous. Somebody is not going to me for a sore throat so they can influence my vote or for a female GYN exam. That's not going to be their purpose," he said.

I don't think it's his making money that's the real problem. I think that the Senators are worried that if Dr./Sen. Coburn can balance his chosen profession with his election position, then maybe someone in the general public will general public will notice. And if we notice, we might also notice that many of the people currently in office have made a career not out of public service, but of politics. We might look back fondly on the time in our nation's infancy when our elected leaders actually had to have a real job, too. When their pension and benefit plans weren't the envy of... well, everyone. When they truly understood what it was like to be a normal citizen, because they were normal citizens.

And then they'd be in trouble. Wouldn't they?

UPDATE: The Family Research Council put in its $.02, with a quote from James Madison. You remember him? The Father of the Constitution? Yeah... him.