Weekend Ponderings

For the past couple of months we’ve not posted any new members of congress to our site.  There were just too many congressmen and women who presented themselves as deserving.  Of course, the fact that they’re in office makes them deserving, but their behavior during the town hall meetings (and since) has emphasized this fact.

We realize we’re on a slippery slope.  The Founding Fathers were afraid of mob rule.  They didn’t create a democracy, but a republic.  Some might argue that the town hall events were mob like.  Our representatives are supposed to do what’s right, not what’s popular.  How is it different?

First, it’s different because our elected officials have exceeded their authority.  The 10th Amendment makes the federal government limits clear.  And the actions (and reactions) of our elected officials have exceeded those limits.  The reaction was much like that of the early patriots rebelling against Mother England.

Second, the vast majority of the protesters have not behaved as an unruly mob.  They’ve certainly been passionate about their opinions but they haven’t been violent.  The violence usually appears when the opposing side shows up and agitates…they are the source of the violence.   The Tea Party protesters are a group committed to making their voice heard–committed to making sure that their elected officials understand that they are not acting as representatives of the people but as representatives of themselves and their selected interests.  Lincoln’s “for the people by the people” has been been lost.

Of course, if we, as citizens, were wiser in our choices of elected officials we may not be where we are today.   We need to be vigilant.  We need to understand that a representative who brings home significant amounts of money had to get that money from somewhere… and somewhere is your friend and neighbor, possibly your own family member in a different state.   We need to not reelect the same people.  It’s time we enforced our own term limits at the ballot box.