Make Politicians Accountable

First Congress

Posted on 19 April, 2014

The following is an article written by a friend and colleague of mine. He wishes to remain anonymous and I will honor his request. Enjoy his article:

INTRODUCTION:
It is hoped that this presentation will generate interest and some impetus towards action by the reader. Any constructive comments regarding the content will be considered in future revisions of this article. The goal is to arrive at some definitive plan that would incite the constituents to follow a path that would force true representation by our congressmen.

POLITICAL CONTEMPLATIONS 14 MARCH 2014 (rev 4/14)
ASTRACT:

• The legislature of this nation is fast becoming more dysfunctional, corrupt and despised. How can this problem be addressed? Can it be corrected?
• 
  
• The solution of any problem depends upon a clear understanding of the problem and its root causes.
• 
  
• Consider the “Affordable health care act” (Obama care) for example. Ignore the political discussions of the relative merits or lack of merits of its content. This rhetoric is in effect a political smokescreen that obscures the main root cause problem which is misrepresentation.
• 
  
• Clearly, the “affordable health care act” was passed and enacted, without and against the will of the majority of the American people, by the efforts of those with special agendas.
• 
  
• This act is a result of the atmosphere in Washington that allows and encourages special interest groups and those with agendas to overrule the will of the people by methods that include intimidation, coercion and bribery. In effect the current atmosphere in Washington promotes and encourages misrepresentation.
• 
  
• Over the years this problem has developed to the point that it can be corrected only if the representatives have no choice but to accurately represent their constituents.
• 
  
• Therefore; there must be immediate effective consequences for any congressman who misrepresents his constituents.
• 
  
• Means must be determined by which the will of the people can be established and made transparent to all on any issue of note at any time.

FORWARD:

When this nation was founded, our forefathers developed and structured our government based upon honesty, integrity and moral values. It was developed within the technological limitations of that time.

Things have changed. For the most part, basic honesty, integrity and moral values have essentially disappeared from the halls of congress.

We no longer face the technological restrictions that bound our forefathers. In fact, today it should be possible to utilize current technology in such a way that it could force our representatives to provide accurate representation, to be honest and to display moral values that are acceptable to the majority of the people whom they must serve.

CAUSE FOR CONCERN:

Unwanted, unnecessary legislation, runaway government spending, excessive entitlements, planned government induced inflation; these and similar government actions will be with us forever unless we can resolve the problem of misrepresentation which is the root cause of all.

A representative is sent to Washington primarily to represent the will of his constituents. The political atmosphere in Washington does not allow this to be the priority.

Special interests and political agendas take priority and an effort is made to capture the support of the representative regardless of the will of his constituents.

In keeping with his responsibilities, each representative should resist any bill that goes against the wishes of his constituents. This is not a consideration of the promoters of special agendas.

Forced misrepresentation has been obvious. Once a bill is presented and the representatives take positions, the political powers delay the vote until a result can be obtained that they deem satisfactory. Bribery, intimidation and threats are brought to bear on selected representatives until an adequate number change their position to support the political agendas with little or no consideration for the will of the constituents.

In event that those tactics fall short then a propaganda campaign is usually waged that paints the reluctant representative as playing politics, blocking progress, forcing gridlock, etc.

A properly working congress should respect the different values of the various constituents and attempt to resolve conflicting issues by compromise and negotiation. If a compromise can’t be reached, then the issue at hand should be readdressed in a different manner that would be more acceptable. If it continues to be unacceptable to a majority of the people then it should be shelved.

Unfortunately, once a representative takes office he may vote as he pleases with virtually no consequences until the next election. The constituents may have to endure many years of misrepresentation with no effective recourse.

WHAT CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM?

This can be resolved if a representative suffers immediate consequences when he fails in his obligations to his constituents. A system must be established where by the desires of the constituents is obvious on all issues of note and then the representative would have no recourse except to follow the will of his constituents or face immediate forced resignation.

HOW WOULD THIS EFFECT THE POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE IN WASHINGTON?

If a representative is irrevocably tied to the wishes of his constituents, then the self serving efforts of special interests groups to secure his support, would be essentially ineffective and irrelevant. Those who would lobby for an issue would have to present their case directly to the constituents. In order to secure the representative’s support on an issue, it would have to be presented in such a manner that it would be acceptable to the constituents.

Bribery, force, or intimidation would not be effective, since any attempt to vote against the constituents wishes would cause the representatives immediate removal from office.

HOW COULD THE REPRESENTATIVE BE MADE AWARE OF HIS CONSTITUENTS WISHES?

Today any attempt to contact a representative to express ones wishes is mostly frustrating and discouraging. It cannot be ascertained if your message got through or if it had any effect. It cannot be determined if the majority of your fellow constituents are like minded.

A transparent system that would allow each voter to express his opinion and to vote on any issue of importance should be developed. The results would be viewable in a public domain. The published results would provide clear directions to the representative that would reflect the desires of his constituents. He would be obligated to follow the expressed transparent desires of his voters.

HOW COULD SUCH A SYSTEM BE IMPLEMENTED?

The existing system established by our forefathers was influenced by the level of technology at that time. Communication over distance was limited by the time it would take for messages to travel. The current congressional structure evolved accordingly.

Today’s technology has evolved to the level that it could be utilized to provide a transparent system that would essentially guarantee true accurate representation of the people. For example, each congressional district could have a telephone/computer receiving system that would recognize the selected telephone number of each registered voter by caller ID. Each voter would have a self determined pin number that would be recognized only when used from his self designated telephone number. The unique combination of the caller’s telephone number and pin number would qualify his vote. Each ballot could be assigned a unique certification number known only to that voter. All ballots could be continuously tabulated and listed by their certification numbers in a public domain. This would allow every voter to ascertain that his particular ballot was properly recorded and to view the resulting totals all of the ballots.

The system could be designed to challenge and/or set aside any duplicate or questionable votes for further resolution.

A website could be established that would enable registered voters to promote issues, to express their opinions, and to come to an agreement about the relative importance of any issues that evolve and to establish priorities.

This would assure that the representative’s priority would be his constituents. It should make him virtually immune to the undesirable pressures and effects of the political atmosphere in Washington. In time it could lead to a positive change in that atmosphere.

How could implementation be started?

One possibility would be for the prospective representative to sign a letter of resignation that would take effect immediately should he violate commitments which he makes to his constituents. The defining authority as to his competence would be the voters who could at any time cause him to resign by a vote of no confidence.

HOW COULD THIS AFFECT ELECTIONS?

The purpose of a congressional election is to select an individual to represent the constituents of a given geographical area.

Currently, towards this end the candidates present themselves as individuals that are dedicated to popular positions. Frequent character attacks and misleading information are utilized to cast doubt upon the opponents’ validity and to sway the voters. Commitments are made to secure funds for campaigning. These commitments encourage the candidate to be flexible and not be irrevocably obligated to his constituents. As a consequence, adherence to a stated position is by no means guaranteed and financial obligations may take precedence over all.

Once a candidate irrevocably binds himself to a platform of “true representation”, then his personal preferences and positions would not necessarily be an issue. Accordingly, he need not tie himself to any position in the debate of divisive issues until the expressed will of the majority can be ascertained. Then he would be obligated to support that will.

CONCLUSION:

If the people of this nation truly wish to improve this nation’s government to their satisfaction, then it is imperative that they should become more involved in the process.

Clearly the established political system will resist any attempt to limit the self serving power that the politicians currently employ therefore it will probably take a concerted grass-root movement to overcome their restrictive efforts.

This government as it functions today will never satisfy the will of the people unless it is forced to by the people. If the people are unable to come together to demand true and accurate representation, then this government will never change and this nation will continue to suffer the consequences.
Anonymous

Robert can be reached with your comments via Email:
Send comments to - editor@robfg.com

Support Modern Conservatism!

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Unknown, quoted by Jim Horning, Will Rogers and others"