As I was driving across the causeway from Ocean City to the New Jersey mainland, I watched the annual migration of the shoobies coming in the opposite direction. No, the shoobies are not migratory birds. And they are nowhere near as unusual as the elephants that make an annual trek to eat mangoes from their favorite tree – a trip that takes them through the lobby of the Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia. Shoobies are two legged mammals of the human variety who travel primarily by automobile to the New Jersey shore in search of the ocean, boardwalk, amusements, and other entertainment and relaxation. Along the way, they tend to stop at one of the many roadside farm market stands to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. No Jersey shore vacation is complete without fresh Jersey corn, tomatoes, strawberries, or blueberries.

As the story goes, the term shoebie comes from years past when people brought everything they needed to take to the beach in a shoe box. For all I know, there was only one such sighting and the term has become more legend than fact.

As I continued my drive home, I thought about the circle of life as it unfolds at the Jersey shore. As a youngster, life begins in Ocean City, which is known as a family-oriented town. There is plenty for the kids to do, and it is a dry town which keeps out the rowdier bunch. Quite often, the shoobies vacation together with three or four generations. But as the kids grow into their late teens and early twenties, they fly the coop from time to time to sow some wild oats in Wildwood or Avalon where watering holes are found in great abundance. It is in these towns that the females of this mammalian species may be seen showing off their mammary glands in the hopes of attracting a mate.

Once they have attracted a mate, they may briefly depart the Jersey shore to experience the tropics in Hawaii, but after having that honeymoon baby they return back with their children to Ocean City, New Jersey – the family resort. At this point, the females use their mammary glands for feeding the young before they are ready to eat the fresh, healthy Jersey produce or the fresh but not quite as healthy Kohr Brothers frozen custard, Johnson’s caramel popcorn, and Mack and Manco’s pizza.

Once their kids fly the coop, they may choose to retire to either Ventnor or Margate, yet two other Jersey shore towns known that are quieter, less filled with tourists and ideal for the more mature crowd. And some who are fortunate enough will migrate like the birds to Florida for the winter and back to the Jersey shore for the summer.

In passing Proposition 14, Californians have dealt a blow to politics as usual. Proposition 14 combines the partisan primary elections into a single election. A voter’s party affiliation no longer matters. Independent voters now have a voice in primary elections, as it should be. Californians are hoping that this move will give more strength to moderates and less strength to partisan extremists. Hopefully other states and the country as a whole will adopt similar changes.

Independent voters now outnumber both Democrats and Republicans. Incumbent has become a four-letter word. People are fed up with the clowns to the far left, the jokers to the far right, and lunatic fringes everywhere else.

It’s time for our leaders to focus on ideas rather than ideology, on pragmatism rather than partisanship, and on public interest rather than special interest. It’s time for our leaders to start working together for the greater good rather than fighting amongst themselves in order to gain power for themselves and their parties.

Washington, are you listening? This is your wake up call. Start listening or we’ll give you the boot.

Congress is broken. So, what else is new? To most members of congress, partisanship and special interests have long since taken precedence over the interests of the American people. They would rather vote against their political opponents rather than enact bipartisan legislation that benefits the American people.

Yes, we have the power of the vote, but the political parties and special interest groups choose which candidates to put forth and fund with campaign dollars. As a result, we have little choice but to vote for the same type of politicians as are already in Congress today.

Our current politicians are predominantly lawyers. We call them lawmakers, but they are in fact policy makers as well. Policies should be driven by a diverse group of responsible citizens whose backgrounds span the American population – not by lawyers. In contrast to how Congress currently does business is how businesses conduct business. In a business setting, business people (those who understand the business) make business decisions and lawyers write legal documentation to suit those business decisions. Similarly, when individuals hire lawyers, the lawyers may offer advice, but it is the individuals who make the decisions based upon that advice. Then the lawyers follow up with the legal mumbo-jumbo.

What we need to do is elect responsible Americans with diverse backgrounds and talents to handle our policy making. We need teachers, doctors, scientists, engineers, environmentalists, psychologists, social workers, accountants, financial experts, and others to decide on policies. We should then hire (not elect) lawyers who write the laws based upon those decisions.

The political parties don’t want average Americans in Congress because they are too independent and cannot be controlled and influenced as easily as career politicians. In order to short circuit the influence of the political parties, I suggest adding a degree of chance. Here is my proposal. When a person wants to become a candidate for office, he or she would have to circulate a petition and obtain a minimum number of valid signatures. For each open elected position, 200 such petitioners would be selected at random. Next, an organization yet to be defined would vet the candidates and narrow the choice down to a few good, qualified candidates. Perhaps the vetting process would include journalists to learn and write about the candidates, and law enforcement to ensure that the candidates have a clean record. The chosen candidates’ names would subsequently go on the ballot and we the people would then vote.

It sounds counterintuitive to introduce a degree of randomness to the equation. But I believe that randomly selected people have a better chance of accomplishing good things for America than the currently gridlocked members of Congress. And there is a precedent: the jury selection process. In order to select a jury of our peers, the first step in the process is random.