Like the deserters who plagued General Washington’s Continental Army, we may never resolve our problem with politicians until we can shoot one of two of them. That concept, as attractive as it might seem to a few, is hardly practical and ignores political reality. American people elect politicians, so that if we are unhappy with their performance in the Congress or state legislatures, we have no one to blame for that than ourselves. The truth is that in spite of campaign rhetoric, most of these elected officials are pursuing their own agenda, they relish the power and prestige of their offices, and they realize that it is much more difficult to get elected than it is to be reelected. They understand that they only work for us on a, "kinda, sorta" basis.While I blame voters for shoddy politicians, fairness requires that I also acknowledge the difficulty of maintaining interest in congressional activity when we hardly ever see an acceptable result. It is true that the information we need is “out there,” but how many of us have the time or inclination to research the Congressional Record — most of which is written in legalese — to find out how our representative voted? How many of us are inclined to write a letter to our Representative expressing concern, or to offer a viable suggestion? The answer to both questions is, “not many.” So we should not be surprised that elected officials will pursue their own agenda no matter what we think, and even in spite of our taking the time to write letters or make telephone calls. That was the intention of "representative democracy," after all.
Elected officials, particularly those in the House of Representatives, are supposed to represent our interests at the national level. They don’t. I might even suggest that with few exceptions, they cannot do that. Party politics does not employ “majority and minority whips” for nothing. A House maverick will not gain assignments to “choice committees,” and this means that ultimately, he or she will not have much to write home about. A “team player” will therefore focus more on making the party leadership happy than they will the folks back home . . . but of course, if the party succeeds, then so too will the individual representative. At least, that’s how it seems to work.
I believe Americans give too much attention to the White House, and not enough are paying attention to what happens in the House of Representatives. As it happens, our founding fathers did intend for the House of Representatives to be our primary link to national politics. Sadly, the power of the people only exists on one day every two years, and only then for a period of twelve hours. Once we cast our vote, our job is over for another two years. Overall, it isn’t very much power, is it? Maybe if “we the people” began to assert more power over our Representatives, we’d actually gain more power.
What is your view?
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