Then they got a new idea....a brilliant idea.  "Let's ALL run it," said Gomer.  

They all agreed this was a good idea.  But then Clem said, "Hey, if we all go away to run it, who will take care of our farms?"

This was indeed a problem.  Then one of them got another great new idea.   "Why don't we take turns?  This way while one of us is away running the country, the rest of us can keep our farms going and maybe even his too!"

"But that's not a job.  I like to do a real job."  said Lucas.

"But it's got to be done," Billy Ray chimed in. 

"What if we gave it a name?  Even though it's not a real job, it should still have a name.  That might even give it an air of legitimacy," Bruce said.  They all looked over at Bruce.

"We'll call it 'POLITICS,' someone finally said.  

They all agreed and then voted and picked Zeke to go and help run the country this first time.  

Now, it turns out that all the other areas of the country had the same idea, so when Zeke got to the Capitol he met guys from all over who had also been chosen by their friends to run the country temporarily.  As it usually is with guys, they argued and had differences but, for the most part, they ran the country reasonably well.

Then it eventually became time for Zeke to go back to the farm and let somebody else take over for a while.  Zeke thought about this.  It had been really different for these past few years.  Zeke had kinda' gotten used to the lifestyle in the Capitol.  Besides, he had made lots of new friends....and not all of them were the other guys.  Some of his new friends were just there to show him a good time....in exchange for favors.  (Well, that's the way we do things here in the Capitol.  You wouldn't understand.)

Zeke's new friends said, "Hey Zeke, why not have the other farmers back home send YOU back to run the country some more?  Then we could still have fun together.  And, you have to admit, this is a whole lot easier than farming.  Hey, we used to be Lawyers.  Believe me, this is easier."

Zeke said, "What will I tell them?  After all, we were gonna' take turns!!"

"Tell them that you're finally getting the hang of this stuff and that if they pick YOU again you'll be able to help them even more this time!!"

"But that's not true....is it?" Zeke said.

"Well then....tell them you'll have 'Seniority' " they told him.  "That's what we did."

"Seniority?  What's that?" asked Zeke.

"What's the difference?" was the reply.  "As long as you get to come back!"

And that's how "Politics" somehow became a job.  It was all a big mistake. 

And that's where we made our biggest mistake.  We allowed "politics" to become a vocation.  You can even go to school now and take "Political Science" courses and get a degree in "Political Science."   Wait a minute.....Science???  SCIENCE!!!  It's a Science?  Who's kidding who, here?

I wonder how long the line would be for those jobs if the rule was:  

ONCE!....then....  

THANK YOU.....NNNNNNEXT!!