2010-01-11
If It Makes You Fear Voter Backlash, You Shouldn't Support It
If our Republic ever fails, we'll have Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama to blame. The founding fathers laid out a really simple foundation for our Democratic Republic. The people vote for representatives, the representatives represent the will of their constituents in government. If the people want their Representatives to do something, they should. If the people want their Representatives not to do something, they shouldn't. In fact, it's so simple that it's almost unbelievable that it took so long to catch on.
The problem today is that our Representatives have been corrupted by greed and special interests. Instead of representing the people, they are only representing themselves. And in order to get away with this, they've been operating under a maze of committees and a blanket of secrecy. The people are somewhat to blame for not more unanimously demanding transparency, but that's like blaming a farmer for a drought because he wasn't praying for rain. The real blame here falls on the government, and in particular the Democratic Party - although the GOP also shares at least some of the guilt, for betraying the trust of the American people.
This health care catastrophe is the straw that will break the camel's back. All of the underhanded tricks, backroom and unethical deals, and disgusting violations of the democratic process are really going to put our Republic through its greatest challenge in its young history. If it passes, we will witness first hand the failure of our Democratic Republic. The thing is that this could easily be avoided by following the simple guidelines implied by the founders.
If a Congressman or Congresswoman is afraid of voter backlash for supporting legislation, they shouldn't support it. What Senator Nelson (D-Nebraska) did is the perfect illustration of what's wrong with the system. Instead of doing what the people wanted him to do, he cut a special backroom deal that would lessen the backlash of his constituents (or so he thought).
I know we make a huge deal about party loyalty, but loyalty to the voters is a lot more important and both sides have lost sight of that. If you're a Republican in a very pro-choice Congressional District, I wouldn't be appalled by a pro-choice voting record... I wouldn't be pleased with that, but I wouldn't be foaming at the mouth either. Likewise, if you're a Democrat who represents a very anti-socialized health care constituency, I would hope you would vote "No" on this legislation.
Unfortunately, our government has lost sight of who they are supposed to be representing and our Democratic Republic will be the greatest victim.
