{"id":652,"date":"2010-04-04T21:15:34","date_gmt":"2010-04-05T02:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/?p=652"},"modified":"2010-07-21T22:07:55","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T03:07:55","slug":"when-representatives-dont-represent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/2010\/04\/04\/when-representatives-dont-represent\/","title":{"rendered":"When Representatives Don’t Represent"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I\u2019ve written before<\/a>, \u201cNothing is more dangerous than the combination of bad ideas and great communication\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I want to add to that, by including voter apathy.<\/p>\n

Witness the birth of ObamaCare, and the justifiable rage that has ensued as a result of the state taking one sixth of our private economy into its control.\u00a0\u00a0 In the days before the historic vote, note that not even the New York Times could produce a poll saying that a majority of Americans wanted this bill<\/em> to become law. \u00a0Most remarkably, as of March 29th, a stunning 54% of likely voters would see it repealed<\/a>. \u00a0 In morphing their supposed mandate for \u201cchange\u201d as pertaining to healthcare and health insurance policy into a supposed mandate for this bill, <\/em> Obama’s operatives reached their peak (thus far) in disingenuousness.<\/p>\n

The rage exists simply because our representatives did not represent.\u00a0\u00a0 Instead, they blatantly misrepresented.\u00a0\u00a0 They blatantly insisted in getting this bill<\/em> passed before Easter recess where they would have been more directly confronted by their constituents.\u00a0\u00a0 For this bill<\/em>, it was literally now or never.<\/p>\n

In the end, the protests in Washington, the PAC spending, the letter writing and advertising campaigns, the endless blogging and tying-up of phone lines did not matter.\u00a0\u00a0 219 Representatives and 56 Senators did what they wanted to do, in pure \u201cdamn the torpedoes\u201d fashion. Even in their unanimous opposition, there simply weren\u2019t enough Republicans to make a difference.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the biggest lesson.<\/p>\n

In the end, it really does boil down to the character of the individual members in Congress.\u00a0\u00a0 It is they who get to create legislation, not us.\u00a0\u00a0 At the moment of voting, they are in control, not us. \u00a0That should now be clear to everyone.\u00a0 So when you combine the character of someone who would sell their vote with the character of someone who would buy it, a market for votes where none should exist<\/em>, things like ObamaCare are made possible.<\/p>\n

The opposite power dynamic exists on exactly one day every two years. \u00a0 This coming November 2nd, theoretically the voters could turn the entire Congress out. \u00a0 We all know that won’t happen. \u00a0 But think about it for a second: \u00a0Nancy Pelosi, who orchestrated the resurrection of ObamaCare, has been voted back<\/em> into Congress eleven<\/em> times. \u00a0 \u00a0Steny Hoyer, fourteen times, Maxine (“socializing<\/a>“) Waters, nine times. Bart Stupak, eight times. \u00a0Henry Waxman, seventeen times. \u00a0Charlie Rangel, nineteen<\/em> times. \u00a0 John Dingell, twenty-seven times<\/em>. How about in the Senate? \u00a0 Harry Reid, three times (now in his twenty-fourth year <\/em>as a Senator). \u00a0Barbara Boxer, twice. \u00a0Barbara Mikulski, three times. \u00a0Arlen Spector, four times. \u00a0Enough already (of them and<\/em> these statistics).<\/p>\n

We let this happen. \u00a0 There are more of us<\/a> than there are of them. \u00a0So the only explanation for the lack of a permanent limited-government majority in Congress is a lack of voter participation by us<\/em>. \u00a0We have received the legislation that through our own voter apathy we allowed to happen. \u00a0Voter turnout<\/a>, defined by George Mason University’s Dr. Michael McDonald as those eligible to vote (not merely those of voting age), still remains pathetic in the low 60% range. \u00a0 This means over a third of the country does not care enough about its future to either help keep it as it is, or change it into something better. <\/em>All of this needs to end. \u00a0 We are now seeing the consequences of the status quo.<\/p>\n

But it seems like those on the limited-government side are finally getting the message. \u00a0 Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents are emerging in large numbers. \u00a0 And Conservative challengers to Republicans are out there as well, as Florida’s Charlie Crist knows only too well<\/a>. \u00a0And of course, there’s the Tea Party<\/a> movement, to which Gandhi’s famous quote hopefully applies:<\/p>\n

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And on that note, support thus far for the Tea Party<\/a> is encouraging. Indeed, it is theirs for the taking. \u00a0 To those of you stepping out and wearing that label, please, make us proud: \u00a0 Be professional, not amateurish. \u00a0Be courteous, not rude. \u00a0 Be persuasive, not repulsive. \u00a0Be effective<\/em>, not merely energetic. \u00a0Hit the spell check button. \u00a0In short, be electable.<\/em> For every step back we need two steps forward, not the other way around.<\/p>\n

To those of you who can’t possibly run for office, by all means, support those who can. \u00a0 \u00a0 I firmly believe that no one can buy an election, but I also firmly believe that one can’t get elected without getting their message out. \u00a0That comes down to money, and often a lot of it. \u00a0 \u00a0When the entire character of the country’s political foundation is being assaulted, can you come up with a better use of fifty bucks, or a hundred, or a thousand, than to help the right kind of leaders get into office, and to stay there? Leverage the professionals as well, \u00a0like The Club For Growth<\/a>, Americans for Prosperity<\/a>,\u00a0or\u00a0FreedomWorks<\/a>. \u00a0 With the kind of political leadership we have in place right now, those who would constantly seek new ways to pick your pocket of those aforementioned funds and squander it<\/a>, \u00a0is there any better investment?\u00a0\u00a0 Take out your checkbook and start writing.<\/p>\n

And on November 2, 2010, make sure that you, and everyone you know, represent.<\/p>\n

Click here for a Free Subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I\u2019ve written before, \u201cNothing is more dangerous than the combination of bad ideas and great communication\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I want to add to that, by including voter apathy. Witness the birth of ObamaCare, and the justifiable rage that has ensued as a result of the state taking one sixth of our private economy into its control.\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":686,"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions\/686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/civilsocietytrust.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}