essaysfromtheedge

Show Them Who They REALLY Work For

The current debate on Health care Reform has opened the eyes of many in America to the true nature of the elitist inhabitants of our current representational republic. I make a point here in strictly defining America's government in its true terminology - "representative republic" - because I believe that our government is now broken and does not function the way the founders had intended.

Take, for example, the recent comments by New York Democrat Representative Eric Massa (New York's 29th Congressional District). Mr. Massa was addressing an intimate gathering of Net Roots activists during a round table discussion at the annual Netroots Nation conference in Pittsburgh this weekend.

He is adamant that he is not going to have a town hall meeting in his district to discuss health reform, nor is he going to vote against any proposed health reform legislation, regardless of the wishes of his district, which he categorizes as "one of the most right wing Republican districts in the country".

For me the whole health reform debate has thrown open the door to the most pernicious practice in American congressional politics: allegiance to your political party and its leadership rather than representing the wishes of the people who sent you to Washington. The House of Representatives should be exactly that: a body consisting of individuals who have been sent by the voters in their district to be their voice in Washington, and to vote on legislation in the manner that the voters - the people for whom the Representative is actually working - instruct him to.

It's obvious to everyone that this is no longer the case; that party loyalty is more important than the wishes - and the voice - of the voters. Mr. Massa has made this abundantly clear when he states that he has no intention of voting with his constituents, but rather with the wishes of his party's leadership in Washington:



The national approval rating for congress before the 2008 election was at the lowest level since polling began. Yet Americans saw fit to return their representative and senator back to Washington. It's obviously some other government hack's fault, right?

Wrong.

What Mr. Massa and others like him need to understand in 2010 is this: if they don't truly represent their district, the voters in their district will throw them out in 2010. Tell him so on his website: http://massa.house.gov/index.html. Find your representative's website here and make sure they know how you feel.

My fear is that the political memory of the average American is only about a month long. My hope is that the anger of Americans will surpass their limited memory and that the 2010 election will truly be a watermark in American politics; a message sent loud and clear: you work for us, not for your party.



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posted by Tomás @ 8/17/2009 04:51:00 PM