Decius:

It would not be surprising to me if there were both carrots and sticks. They have to motivate people to do this somehow, although many might be suckered in by a naive interest in serving the people and find themselves trapped. Once you get good at doing a thing, and well compensated, abandoning it for an entirely different profession is not always the path of least resistance in life.

In the end, I find the idea that Congress isn't barred from insider trading a bit hard to swallow. If Schweizer has identified any real problems, and they get fixed, that is good enough for a days work I think.

I am confused by their seemingly contradictory slogans against the "permanent political class" and "revolving doors". This seems to be Schweizer's main point, but it's baffling. If it's prohibited to make a career in politics, and it's also prohibited to enter private industry after serving in government, then where do qualified politicians come from, and where do they go when we're tired of seeing them in government?

I am unconvinced that meaningful progress can be made by replacing every old hand who knows all the angles with a bunch of political novices. The newbies might be less consciously corrupt, but their naïveté would expose them to manipulation from all sides.

Have you seen Ides of March? I recall an archived post about cynicism and truth ...

RE: Sarah Palin: How Congress Occupied Wall Street - WSJ.com