I think my mom nailed him in one great comment--she said "He ran on transparency in government, and it's true. He got into office and became invisible." My mom rocks. I don't know why she doesn't have the politics blog.
But I think there is a very real thing that needs to be taken into account for all of these elections--what do you think your elected representative should actually do for you? I know what I expect. I would like representatives who worked on jobs and respected things like the voting rights and reproductive rights of individuals. I'd like politicians who supported living wage and paid sick time for workers. I'd like politicians in office who thought their job was to make things better for their constituents, and not maintain an unsatisfying status quo.
I'm rereading Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies. He totally reads Plato for dirt. He is always aware that government is a tool of the people, and not a machine for elitists to run. This is why I root for Wendy Davis in Texas, and Allison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky and for Mary Burke in Wisconsin. I think government should be run by people who believe in it. People who want to make things work. People with ideas and ideals, not crony-ass paid-for tools. I think shit like this is sad. (Totes real but sad.)
I would desperately love it if voters asked who benefits and who decides a bit more circumspectly. But "What have you done for me Lately?" Seriously--what?
1 comment:
It's the right question to ask. Unfortunately, Americans have always take their democracy for granted - that's why the wealthy took it from them while they were distracted - and they can't answer the question because they very broadly don't understand the structure of their own state and federal government. They don't know what powers the chief executive holds. They don't know what the legislature can and can't do, and when and whether a majority or a supermajority is required. They don't understand the veto points in Washington, from the committee system in two houses of Congress to the perogatives of the leadership to the realities of a conference committee.
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