We continue to mischaracterize our local and Congressional
politicians by calling them leaders. By our vote, we elect 435
people to the House of Representatives and 100 people to the Senate. Both the
House and the Senate make up the Congress.
The President is also elected to represent us, not to lead us. The President is the leader of his party, but not our leader. The House of Representatives can elect leaders within their party structure and the Senate can do the same.
Honestly, when you see a politician go on television and go through their rants, raves, and lies, do you really want to say that you are led by any of them? If so, you are embarrassing and belittling yourself.
3. We must require them to demonstrate to us how they would eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse before they will vote on any bill that spends our tax money.
4. Finally, we must require that they must not have a pension system different from ours. They can be eligible for Social Security and have a 401k just like the rest of us.
Would you give a stranger on the street a $1000 bill and say just spend it anyway you want? I doubt it.
Rather we must expect them to adhere to the promises they campaigned on and hold them accountable.
When we
refer to those we elect as leaders, we unintentionally disinvest ourselves of
our power as voters.
In the Constitution it is clearly stated that we elect
people to represent us not to lead us. In the Constitution, you will find the
words representative and representative(s) 56 times. No where in the
Constitution will you find the word leader.
Again, we elect people to the House and
Senate to represent us, not to lead us. As they are our representatives,
we must tell them how we want to be represented and hold them accountable when
they do not represent us properly.
The President is also elected to represent us, not to lead us. The President is the leader of his party, but not our leader. The House of Representatives can elect leaders within their party structure and the Senate can do the same.
Honestly, when you see a politician go on television and go through their rants, raves, and lies, do you really want to say that you are led by any of them? If so, you are embarrassing and belittling yourself.
The true relationship
between the representatives and the voters is that the voters should tell their
representatives how they want to be represented and hold them accountable when
they misrepresent us. And, if necessary, ether recall them or replace them
at the next election.
Several changes must
occur and be required of those we elect.
1. We must require
them to end the gerrymandering of districts which allow many of them to either
run unopposed or, if they are members of the dominant political party, to be
reelected over and over again because they receive the most money from the
local political war chest.
2. We must require them to agree to term limits so that they
will live under the laws they vote on and not become career politicians. Our representatives in the House must serve
no more than three terms in office and our Senators to serve no more than two terms. Our Founders did not expect that our
representatives spend decades in office and receive an outrageous pension
afterwards.
3. We must require them to demonstrate to us how they would eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse before they will vote on any bill that spends our tax money.
4. Finally, we must require that they must not have a pension system different from ours. They can be eligible for Social Security and have a 401k just like the rest of us.
These positions should and must pertain to each politician we
elect regardless of party. We must then hold them accountable by requiring them
to regularly meet with us in the district and give us a report based on how the above
requirements are being met.
It is incumbent upon us to
study the issues, form groups, invite the politician in and give the politician
an agenda. Let the politicians know that we expect him or her to vote in our
interests and not for the “special interests” who did not vote them into office.
Politicians spend and
typically waste our tax money on frivolous and unconstitutional projects and
programs such as in the Covid-19 relief plan. In this age of the internet and access to instant information, once
we give our representatives an agenda, we can easily keep track of them to make
sure that they are adhering to the agenda which we gave them.
Then when they come home to
the district to report, they must be prepared to have a dialogue with us knowing
that we will hold them accountable.
Would you give a stranger on the street a $1000 bill and say just spend it anyway you want? I doubt it.
Both the President and those who represent us in the House and
Senate must hear from us clearly and consistently. Those in the House and
Senate must understand that we do not accept personality clashes with the
President, exhibitions of childish behavior, or spitefully closing rank around
fellow members at the expense of the voters.
Rather we must expect them to adhere to the promises they campaigned on and hold them accountable.