Weasel Word Alert

I was just ranting (in a previous post) about ‘seniority’ in politics and it’s something that I simply do not understand. Why, if you were elected, would you stand for it? Just because it’s always been done that way? That’s not a good reason. And it’s not a good reason in any profession. I was a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America for almost 30 years. The carpenters union. Sorry, but we didn’t have seniority. You could do the job or you couldn’t. Skill was the only criteria for hiring. But that didn’t mean that we abandoned our elder members. For instance, if you needed someone to do trim work, you would look for an elder to hire. They usually had the temperament and skills for this slow but demanding work. Most young and ambitious workers just messed it up. But it was skill and not seniority! Notice how I used the ‘weasel words’ usually and most; because that is the failure of seniority. Sometimes being around for a long time only means that no one noticed you. Seniority almost always guarantees mediocrity.