A Return to the Way Things Aught to Be
By
Michael The Libertarian
For many years, I have been harping on the idea that our
elected officials, most particularly our congress critters, should be
voting the way we want them to vote, when we send them to Washington
D.C.
Now, let's not – you and I – dear reader, confuse issues.
“Talking heads” are constantly repeating the false claim of: “We
live in a democracy!” Actually, we don't. We live in a democratic
republic. More accurately, in practice, we live in a representative
democracy.
Representative … It's interesting (to me, anyway) that “the
peoples' house” of the congress is populated by people called
“representative”. “The peoples' house” is referred to as:
“The House of Representatives”. Coincidence? Well, based upon the
behavior of most of those congress critters over the last fifty years
or so, I would think it's more oxymoron than coincidence.
These bloviating die-hards are under the mistaken impression
that we elect them to be “leaders” rather than representatives.
It's one of the symptoms of a disease I've been railing against for
decades, now. The disease is the erosion of the principles upon which
this country was founded; public service.
Even before this country was a country, the continental
congresses were made up of citizens, chosen by their neighbors, to
let the rest of the country know how those citizens back home felt.
Going to the congress wasn't seen as a career. In fact, it was
a huge dent in one's career. Most, back then, were farmers or maybe,
they owned some kind of small business, but having to leave home
(some of them couldn't really travel back and forth because of
geographical and time constraints) for months (at minimum) meant that
whatever your trade was, it was going to suffer. Back in these days,
elected officials really were “public servants” and God bless
them, each and every one.
What we have, today is a system by which men and women become
politicians and make elected office their “career”. What's really
troubling about this is something that is the fault of the
politicians and we, as a people.
What career politicians have devolved into is people who
almost never keep their promises. A group that frequently runs to
their base (either right or left) during primaries and then, pretends
to become centrists, in order to win the general election. They will
tell you this makes them “statesmen”. It makes them artists of
deception (“liars” for those of you in Poughkeepsie).
Now, as I have come to learn, comes a man who is trying to
return to those golden years of yore (although, I am sure he wishes
to make politics a career, also). Michael Allman is running for
congress in California's 52nd district. He has vowed to
vote the way the people in his district direct him to vote; even if
he doesn't agree with the vote!
In today's day of politics, that is amazing and refreshing.
From
Allman's website: “I am running for congress because the
political infighting and posturing that’s happening in Washington
has to change. Voters are more engaged in political debate than ever
before, but their views are not well represented in the current
politicized environment. I’m going to change that. When I am
elected to congress, I am going to vote on issues the way my
constituents tell me to vote, on an issue-by-issue basis.”
See?
Exactly as it should be. It almost makes me wish the idea of living
in The Peoples' Republic of California wasn't such a daunting idea.
Okay,
you want “fair and balanced”? You want criticism? That's simple:
Allman claims to be a Republican and successful Republicans in
southern California are like successful left-handed snipers in the
military … almost unheard of. What I predict happening, here is:
once he gets elected, people that didn't vote for him, by-and-large
will be the ones influencing how he votes in congress. In effect,
he'll be another rabid democrat that just happens to have an “R”
after his name.
But,
I like his principle and I think all 435 members of the house aught
to adopt it. It would make them more palatable to me.
Think
of it, when was the last time you heard a politician say: “I'm
going to vote on … the tax bill, for example … the way my
constituents want me to vote" as opposed to: “I'm going to vote with
the members of my party.”
-
Michael
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