Elena Kagan, George McGovern, and Experience

"Experience. The wisdom that enables us to recognize in an undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced. "
- From "The Devil's Dictionary" by Ambrose Bierce.

Most of the discussion about supreme court nominee Elena Kagen has centered around her experience. Critics have noted that for all her accomplishments, Kagen has not spent much time in the courtroom. In a column published this morning, Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan had a different take on the experience issue: the problem with Kagen is not her lack of time in court, it is her lack of time spent outside of the company of elites and positions of privilege. As Eagen points out, the current court, even with Kagen, shows diversity in the areas of race and gender, but virtually no diversity of background. All of these justices come from Ivy League schools. Only Thomas and Sotomayor have worked in state or local courts. With Justice Stevens departure, the court will have no veterans.

The problem is not just with the supreme court; the executive branch also lacks background diversity. Less that 10% of the Obama cabinet have work experience in the private sector. President Obama has never had to make payroll. Some of his statement reflect a lack of understanding of how businesses work, such as when he refers to profits as overhead, or proclaiming at a February press conference that "If [small businesses] can get the bank loans to boost their payroll ...".

Why is this lack of experience with life outside of the elites important? Consider former senator and presidential candidate George McGovern. After leaving the Senate, George bought an inn in Connecticut. Four years later, the inn went bankrupt. In his frank assessment of his inn's failure, George McGovern places the blame on policies he enacted as a Senator! Among the inn's woes were excessive regulations that place an especially heavy burden on small businesses. Lawsuit abuse was also an issue: he was forced into expensive litigation over people who fell in - or near - his establishment. Moreover, he noted that medical lawsuit abuse was driving up his medical insurance costs. As a senator, he had heard these concerns from businessmen, but dismissed them as overblown. McGovern admits that this business venture has taught him how wrong he was to dismiss these concerns, and that if he had tried his hand at a business earlier in life, he would have been a better senator and presidential candidate.

So the next time a nominee comes up for confirmation, please urge our senators to avoid unimportant issues such a ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, and ask the really important questions:

• Have you ever run a cafe, a dry cleaner, or other such small business?
• If not, what qualifies you to judge the people who do?