Back in the early days, say Constantinople in the year 800 A.D., they used eunuchs to run big parts of the government. The Chinese did it until the beginning of the 20th century.

A eunuch, of course, is a man who has been surgically unmanned, gelded, fixed like a housecat, cut off from his future children and, uh, no longer interested in rap videos.

I propose that men who want to enter American politics submit to voluntary castration. Not that you'd need to force 'em. I've known guys who would have cheerfully de-berried themselves for a shot at a city council seat somewhere in Iowa.

The advantages are obvious, and they're pretty much the same advantages that made those ancient civilizations so fond of castrated officials.

At a time when the more bloody-minded of our citizens routinely suggest castrating rapists and child molesters, when public dialogue brims with howls for cutting off the hands of thieves, branding illegal immigrants and gunning down black teenagers who stroll into the wrong neighborhood, let's finally apply violence where it needs to applied.

Consider the benefits. With nothing to show, Anthony Weiner would have stayed off the Internet. Bush the younger? Never would have happened. The Kennedys? Nipped in the bud. The alcoholic, useless janitor your school system can't fire because his dad is a school committeeman? Goodbye. Messy divorces, secret mistresses, gay frolicking in restrooms? So long. Bill Clinton? No way. Gay? Straight? What's the difference after they snip?

Of course, a guy who wanted to run for office would have to get himself snipped BEFORE he had children, but that's not a big deal since most of the officious little simps who go on to be your mayor realize very early on that they're not going to work for a living.

Smaller pensions. Less expensive medical plans. Lower salaries. No more whining speeches that begin, "After much discussion with my wife and children, I have decided to withdraw from the water commissioner's race to spend more time with my family." No more newspaper columns written by guys whose only qualification is that their father was a B-grade movie actor who became president in his sleep and never woke up. "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon Martin?" What eunuch can say that without raising an unwanted laugh?

Used to be, when a man ran for office, people wanted to know what he'd sacrificed for his country. For decades, this meant voters checked the guy's war record. Under my plan, if you want to see what a guy sacrificed for his country, all you gotta do is ask him to drop trou. There's your sacrifice. And it's un-fakeable

Of course, even my cutting-edge solution doesn't fix the Sarah Palin problem.

But I'm working on it.

To find out more about Marc Munroe Dion and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com. Marc Munroe Dion's books, "Mill River Smoke" and "Between Wealth and Welfare," are available on Amazon.com and Nook for $9.99.