It might be due to an anticipatory invocation of Jane’s Law, but the rising sentiment of ’What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander’ as applies to a number of arenas might not be a bad thing after all.  On the other hand, is this approach an invitation to the hunting of witches?

Well, at any rate, I ran across this today, and it got me to thinking…

Item One:

The Guy From Boston on a tear (h/t to G. Vanderleun for introducing this Most Robust Rhetorician):

Item Two:

Update on America’s Criminal Class:

Using Twain’s observation as a guideline we took a long, hard look at the 535 men and woman who make up the House and Senate of the United States in 1999 and found a collection of rogues, con artists, scofflaws and bad check artists. We found Twain was right. Congress comprises a distinct criminal class.

It’s been over five years so we decided to take another look. Over the past several months, we have checked public records, past newspaper articles, civil court cases and criminal records of current members of the United States Congress. We talked with former associates and business partners who have been left out in the cold by people they thought were friends.

…

Sixty-four have personal and financial problems so serious they would be denied security clearances by the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy if they had to apply through normal channels (but, again, as members of Congress they get such clearances simply because they fooled enough people to get elected).

Item Three:

From the WaPo: “Firms Stymied by Backlog on Security Clearances”

Today there is a backlog of 188,000 requests for security clearances from private contractors. Companies say that backlog—and the yearlong wait now common for new clearances—hampers business. Government officials say it is limiting whom they can hire.

And a WaPo OpEd: “Top Secret!”

A GENERATION of baby boom bureaucrats is retiring from the federal government. Anywhere from 900,000 to 1.8 million workers will leave the government in the next six years. But according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, the government isn’t filling positions that require security background checks fast enough—and the delay is costing federal agencies money and talent.

The average wait for applications for the top-secret security clearances that the GAO examined was 446 days.

A Modest Proposal?

Perhaps, like all other Federal Employees, Congressmen should be compelled to wait until their clearance is completed before they can start work.  I figure that anything that keeps a member of the House of Representatives unable to screw things up by wandering around on the Hill in some legislative haze for more than 3/5^ths of their time and adds a thick layer of due diligence and accountability can’t be all that bad.