Each time that Weston Wamp is confronted concerning his youth and lack of experience he and his political operatives constantly revert to a used up claim about his time spent at a “Lamp Post” organization; as though this is enough job related experience to propel him to a taxpayer financed $175,000 job in Congress. Incidentally, that equates to a weekly base salary of $3,365 per week. This is perhaps four times that of the average third district taxpayer’s weekly salary – with equivalent experience to that of the candidate.
Weston suffers from a bad case of “belief conclusion” (he believes it therefore it must be fact). It is fundamental; fact from opinion must be separated. Opinion is only a thought or speculation which can lead to flimsy, groundless and unsupported experience claims such as those presented relating to his time at a” Lamp Post.”
The raw facts support that Mr. Wamp does not possess the broad based credentials necessary to effectively represent the citizens of the third district. Regrettably the injection of time spent leaning on the “Lamp Post” as a substitute for adequate experience is just an inflated convenience claim.
Suggestion: Weston, quit leaning on the “Lamp Post” and go gain some tangible experience, and then follow through on political ambitions. The experience light projected from the “Lamp Post” to be sure, is very dim.
Johnny Jones
Hixson
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"...he and his political operatives constantly revert to a used up claim about his time spent at a "Lamp Post" organization..."
Thank goodness I read your op-ed, Mr. Jones. Had I not done so, I wouldn't have realized there was a limit on how many times one can cite their employment history, especially when it's in response to an alleged lack of employment. I better go check my résumé and make sure that information hasn't yet been classified as "used up claims."
Mr. Jones, I understand the overall point you're trying to make regarding Weston's lack of experience, however, I see a couple of glaring problems with your premise:
First, you talk as if Weston wasn't actually involved in a significant capacity at Lamp Post. While I can not definitively say that he was, I do know that other founding members of LP have certainly backed up his involvement and the role he played, and they make it clear that he was an integral part of the company's success. Furthermore, no one who has said otherwise has cited even the most circumstantial of evidence to support their assertion. For anyone to arbitrarily choose not to believe that is a sad reminder of one of the many problems prevalent throughout politics today. You also state that Weston suffers from " 'belief conclusion' (he believes it therefore it must be fact)" , and you then correctly state that facts need to be separated from opinion. Apparently you must be among the "Do as I say, not as I do" crowd, because you immediately confuse your own opinion with fact (ironically enough, a direct result of that dreaded "Belief Conclusion" syndrome) when you said "The raw facts support that Mr. Wamp..." doesn't possess the necessary credentials to represent the third district. I checked Article I, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution, and I didn't see any mention that Lamp Post experience (or an alleged/perceived lack thereof) had any bearing on the matter. Speaking of experience/lack of experience, that brings me to my second point.
The one "criticism" I hear about Weston, far and away more than anything else, is his "lack of experience". Personally, I want my representative to have the following traits:
*A sincere desire to uphold the Constitution
*A sincere desire to honestly and faithfully represent the citizens of his district
*A brain, preferably one in working order
*A maturity level that has surpassed that of the average pre-k student
Currently, there are plenty of people in Congress who have all the "tangible experience" one could hope for, yet the majority consistently fail to do their jobs (most likely as a result of not having one or more of the aforementioned traits). If experience is what our current Congress has, then I certainly hope our next representative has none.
Simply put, Congress is not getting the job done. It's said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. Fleischmann guaranteed my vote will not go to him when he acted incredulous at Weston's suggestion that he would reach across the aisle to work to get things done. Certainly, there are issues where compromising should not be an option, but to take that stance across the board is just going to bring us more of what we've been witnessing for far too long. It is time we have some new faces in Congress, ones who realize they are the employee and we are the boss; not the other way around.
Dallas Cole
Hixson