Diagram courtesy of Teachers vs. Union website
Even though this post is not a description of an historical event, it does remind me of some similarities with current life in the U.S.A. Thursday this past week, our national holiday of Thanksgiving was celebrated across the land. This day may also be thought of the early Americans celebrating their religious freedom. So in a similar fashion, we must not take our freedoms for granted. With freedom, comes responsibility. Our citizens, need to insure that our precious freedoms are not allowed to become a lost virtue of our way of life. To this end, please take a moment to consider the following responsibility:
With a year to go, now is probably a good time for me to plug the necessity of insuring that our American political leaders are doing the things that are expected by those that elected them – regardless of political party. Of course, I like to believe that most of our elected officials are excluded from the types of politicians described in this post. At the moment, it seems that some elected officials have forgotten the people that put them in office. Sure I understand that they are urged to do the bidding of their major contributors, whether corporate or individual, but after the election they are expected to represent ALL the people in their constituency or the group of citizens that an elected official represents.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t feel that any of our political leaders either from day one wanted to complicate our lives or to destroy the “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” of their constituents. However, it seems that in their rush to protect either the Income Tax loopholes for the wealthy, grant privileges to special interest groups, or to follow the teachings of their voter base – regardless whether those teachings were what all Americans should live by or not, that they have been losing relevance to the population they serve. Maybe some politicians’ goal were to either solely feather their own nest, which refers to the elected official’s increasing their fortune or power, or maybe they were following the political polls of the day to stay in office.
Regardless of what determines their political will to get things done for the American people, it is our responsibility to monitor the actions of those in office to insure that OUR will is being done. With as difficult as it is now for the ordinary family to keep up with all of the daily demands on our time, I am not asking that we spend all of our time reviewing what our political leaders have done. That would be an unreasonable request. I am asking that when you notice something that your government has done that doesn’t appear to be in the public’s interest, we need to let our elected officials hear from us – rather than our complaining about it to our friends or family. It is or should be the primary way politicians learn what issues are important to their constituents. Now with the Internet, making our voices heard is easy.
To share your views with someone in the American government, please visit the federal government’s website: http://www.usa.gov/ . Then, click on “Voting and Elections.” When that screen is displayed, click on “Contact Elected Officials.” There you may select to write an email to the President, U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives, State Governors, or State Legislators. If you select anyone other than the President, you will have to make additional selections to get to the desired elected official. Write and send them an email.
To prove my point and for those outside of the United States, the Republican political party had majority control of two of the three branches of the American government for most of the George W. Bush Presidency. Those two branches would be the Executive (President) and the Legislative (Congress). During the George W. Bush Presidency, the Republican controlled Congress agreed to fund record breaking amounts for giving special interest groups, firms, constituents, etc. special privileges tax advantages, projects, etc. The most bizarre one is the “bridge to nowhere” that was to be built in Alaska. I am not sure whether that project has remained funded by the now Democratically controlled Congress. So that there is no misunderstanding of my intent, Democratically controlled Congresses have also funded unreasonable spending amounts by the government. However, they had been much smaller than the Republican Congress’s outlandish funding mentioned.
Those living outside of the United States are urged to take similar action in their country to keep their political leaders answerable to their constituents.
Remember: in a free society, either a constituency makes their views known or must accept the folly of corrupt political power left unchecked.
Website Referenced: http://www.usa.gov/