Monday, April 8, 2013

Are we forgetting "majority rule"?


E. J. Dionne has an interesting piece on WashingtonPost.com – he mentions that Congress as a whole is persistently ignoring policies and concerns that are embraced by large majorities of Americans.

Nearly everyone thinks we need more strict background checks on gun buyers. Congress is waffling as the NRA and gun advocates pile on the pressure.

Most Americans think fixing the economy and creating more jobs is the highest public priority. Congress seems to be spending all its time viciously debating "the deficit" and trying to cut the benefits of the Americans who need them most.

A majority of Americans want their very wealthy fellow citizens to pay more taxes. Republicans and many Democrats don't want to touch that with a 10-foot pole.


Why do we keep re-electing these partisan, self-serving pols who are so spectacularly failing to respond to the guidance of a majority of Americans?

Next time, don't vote for your incumbent Senator or Representative. He/she is somebody's friend, but he/she isn't really your friend.



2 comments:

  1. And a classic case is the PA congress, in which not one Democrat voted for the bill to privatize liquor sales. Not one - despite overwhelming public support. They used the easy excuse that the bill was not strong enough, though they know anything stronger would have no hope of passage. Not one Democrat voted for it. Ridiculous.

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    1. If Edmund Burke were alive today, he would be gnashing his teeth at the manifest failures of representative government....

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