So, after 15 votes over several days, Kevin McCarthy is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, replacing the Honorable Nancy Pelosi.

Setting aside my distrust of anything having to do with California, even if it is from the opposite end of the San Joaquin valley from the Bay Area, I’d like to congratulate Mr. McCarthy on attaining what one hopes is the pinnacle of his career.

This has been a long road for the good Speaker. I mean, he started out as a lowly staffer at the ripe age of 22, working his way up to being Speaker of the House through a long and arduous course of crawling over the mangled bodies of his opponents, serving all the right people, and shanking all the wrong people.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not impressed. McCarthy may be a consummate politician, but that’s all he is. According to his biography, he has never held a job outside of politics, at least not since college.

Maybe I’m a bit naive, but a member of Congress, especially leadership that is going to have enormous influence on not only how decisions are made, but which decisions are made, should have some real world experience.

I’m not saying every seat filler in the halls of Congress should start out as a hard-scrabble farmer, find success through hard work and grit, and eventually take on a role as a community leader before working their way to Washington. What I am saying is that I have a hard time believing that someone who has spent literally a lifetime learning about life by watching other people live has any business in a position of power.

There is a place for professional politicians, don’t get me wrong. McCarthy obviously has talent in his chosen field. It’s just that, in my honest opinion, such folks should assist leaders, not be anointed to lead.

Here are some things that I cannot find evidence of in Speaker McCarthy’s adult life:

• Military Service
• Manual Labor
• Low-wage work
• Charity work
• Starting and running a business
• Losing a job
• Losing an election

I wish Mr. McCarthy luck in his new position. I hope his 35 years of experience as being nothing more than a politician and legislator serve him well as Speaker of the House.

But I will always question upon what his decisions and opinions are based, since his career is based upon nothing more than a long-term commitment to politics.