By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am wondering when the term “career politician” became a four-letter word, an epithet that no one wants to have plastered next to their name.

In the context of the 2020 campaign for the U.S. presidency, I am going to say out loud and with crystal clarity that I much prefer a career politician over the rank amateur who are vying for the nation’s highest political office.

Joseph Biden Jr. is the career politician in this race. Donald J. Trump is the other guy. The rank amateur has had nearly four years to fix the things he said that he could repair all by himself. He hasn’t gotten the job done.

Biden’s pledge? He wants to restore our national soul. Beyond that, Biden wants to bring a sense of public service to the apex public service job in America.

Yes, Biden is a career politician. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. He served there for 36 years. Then he accepted Barack Obama’s offer to run as vice president in 2008. He served for two times at President Obama’s side.

A career politician doesn’t have to be someone who enriches himself on the public dime. He doesn’t need to lie just because he fears the truth. A career politician can, indeed, be someone who is dedicated to public service.

A career politician quite often is someone who understands the complexities of government … and it is a complex endeavor. Legislating is complicated. It often requires compromise, which results when a career pol gives a little and takes a little here and there. The career politician works with other career politicians who might share different world views, but they all seek a common goal.

I am not a Pollyanna who thinks all career pols are paragons of virtue. I’ve known my share of snakes and skunks in public life. I just don’t happen to believe that Joe Biden falls into that category of career politician.

As for snakes and skunks, well, they exist in the so-called “real world” of business, too. Do you get my drift here?

Donald Trump sold many of us a bill of goods in 2016. He called himself a self-made success story. He is neither self-made nor is he a successful businessman. Sure, he’s rich and he reminds us of that fact regularly. He’s also insecure, which reveals itself by his constant reminders of his gawdy lifestyle.

He doesn’t know how government works. He has no intention of learning how it works. Trump doesn’t care about you or me. Only about himself. Public service is not in his DNA and it was nowhere to be found in his background before he became a politician.

I want my government to work again. I am more than willing to put my government back in the hands of a career politician who knows how to maneuver the levers.