Dear Editor:

“Outsiders” has become the catch phrase for those who deny that they themselves would not hire an “outsider” to do most commonplace jobs, much less jobs with extreme global and domestic consequences. Would anyone hire someone with no experience, and a contrarian attitude towards the job, be it house painting, teaching their children, delivering newspapers, or performing surgery? (insert any other profession)

Yet because it suits their immediate purpose, a lack of experience and opposing viewpoints to the tasks at hand, it now becomes “vogue” to be an “outsider.”

An “outsider” like Betsy Devos for Sec. of Education, a conservative activist and billionaire, who has pushed forcefully for private school voucher programs nationwide. (Private and certain charter schools don’t have to accept your child, don’t have to use certified educators, and don’t have to initiate special education services). Expect her nomination to face strong opposition opposing her efforts to funnel taxpayer jobs from public to private and religious schools. Your tax money.

An “outsider” like Rick Perry to head the Energy Department, seeking to put the former Texas Governor in control of an agency whose name he forgot during a presidential debate even as he vowed to abolish it. Enough said there.

An “outsider” like retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, an unconventional choice that points directly to Trump forgoing traditional policy expertise in many Cabinet positions to surround himself with allies.

An “outsider” like Andrew Puzder as Sec. of Labor, who has sharply criticized raising the federal minimum wage to $15, warning it would increase costs for consumers and lead to fewer jobs. Interestingly enough, Mr. Puzder runs CKE restaurants, the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s JR.

The coup de gras, an “outsider” like Rex Tillerson as Sec. of State who has no experience in the public sector, a first in modern history for a potential secretary of state. Rex Tillerson who’s ExxonMobil won a contract to explore for oil in a Russia-controlled portion of the Arctic Ocean which was included in the United States’ sanctions against Russia that froze ExxonMobil’s Arctic agreement. Were those sanctions to be lifted, the deal would most assuredly be made – making Tillerson’s shares of ExxonMobil stock much more valuable.

Alligators in the swamp all.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” — Edmund Burke

Sincerely,

Scott R. Blume,

Clarendon