Action Thoughts: Our Reps Shining a Light on Our Views

First things first. Why don't you use the comments section of this diary to post the letters you have sent to elected officials last week. That way you will have the satisfaction of knowing that someone has actually read your opinions and pleas.

in a representative government the ordinary people who do attempt to have voice in government should represent the conscience of the nation but that is not the case.

Politicians imagining the wants of the totally uninvolved is nothing new. Do you remember Nixon's "Silent Majority?" It seems that since then, in the transition from old snail mail to the electronic age communications between the people and elected officials has gone even further downhill. They don't even need to imagine a silent majority anymore.

As technology has changed and our elected officials rely more and more on the internet why hasn't the voice of the people found a place on those webpages? What would happen if we could force a little "Light of Day" from our Democratic leadership?

There is room for vast communication improvements and we the Progressive Bloggers may just be able to force those moves to come to fruition. While it would certainly be slow goings and met with great resistance, the fruit of such labor may be very sweet.

 

This diary doesn’t so much address the issue of the Peoples’ Party not doing the will of the people. Nor does it have anything to do with last week's FISA fiasco. This is not even about Democrats. It is about representation and the will of the people becoming the power of the people. A small step toward putting Democratic ideals up front and giving Democrats the power to fulfill the promises made on the campaign trail. A simple change like the letters of the people receiving their due could play a small role in breaking the cycle of voters sending people to Washington so those people can carry out the will of someone else.

As we search for progress in America it is hard to deny the facts that could lead any observer to the conclusion that elected officials on both sides of the aisle have placed a concerted effort in ostracizing the voters so Washington can continue on with less meddling from those pesky citizens. Something must be done to break this long itinerary of bad faith that proves the fact that "we the people" have almost no influence over "they the representatives."

Of course incumbents represent nothing but damaged goods and would be a waste of our time and efforts. Ah but fresh meat or new blood is a different story. Even though the embedded elected officials, especially the senators, would not want to be forced into learning new skills and risking disconnect from the powerful, someone who has yet to join the fold could be swayed by future constituents and volunteers alike.

Active Democrats may be able to find inroads through newcomers to congress and the senate who are presently on the campaign trail. People supported by the progressive community in upcoming elections may be convinced that the promise of a ‘new deal’ in communicating with voters would advance their support. Through our letters and volunteer work the case can be made to someone hoping to become a freshman in congress that a message of electronic power to the people could be a means of getting elected because it really is a powerful message.

Who wouldn't vote for someone who steps up to the lectern and says;

Hello my name is Joe Blow and I am here to make a promise to the voters. I promise that if you send me to Washington as your representative you will not feel disconnected on the day your vote has been cast and I have a plan that will prove that you the voter will have oversight and influence in every decision I make.

Actually it is more than a plan and this is not just talk. take a look at my campaign webpage. Feel free to create a log-in and notice that you can add your feelings under every issue and every congressional action. That webpage is all about you the voter. It is an outlet for you to share your hopes and expectations and it will not be ignored.  

I know that many of you are greatly discouraged in your government. Many have written letters to your representatives with either no response or a form letter that doesn't even relate to the issue you've written about. Well I can and I will change that.  

If you send me to Washington I will offer something that no one else does. I will offer the voice of the people as my guiding force and it will be in writing. Not only will your letters be acknowledged, your thoughts will be featured on my congressional website. Every letter will be archived for everyone to view and the best of those letters will be featured.

If I am to represent you in Washington my first responsibility will be to you and it will be a sunshine representation. My website will have a daily diary that will list everyone I will meet with, everything discussed in the meetings from the previous day and all of the government activities where I participated. My day will end with the news of the day and how I feel about that news so voters can respond. I will offer a list of what congress is up to and a means to participate through constituent polls.

When a congressional bill is introduced or coming up for a vote my webpage will offer my feelings on each of those efforts. There will be a percentage charts of how the voters feel "yea or nay" and you the voter will be able to write your feelings about every single bill. As I feature letters from voters, you the voter will be able to judge if I have chosen a response that represents my own will because every single letter on that topic, will be viewable under that category. As your representative I won't be able to deny the bills with the most comments attached and if I feel I should go against the voters I am suppose to represent I will offer an essay as to why I voted against or failed to co-sponsor a bill before congress.

If you send me to Washington to represent you there will be no doubt that it is you I am representing. Is that not a contract with the constituents that you can stand behind?

If some freshman in Washington made good on that promise it could have a desired immediate effect. The fact that many representatives transform from fresh voice to embedded incumbent in a very short time is a very sad reality. If some incumbent doesn’t take that newcomer under their wing and beat that promise out of the newbie, making and fulfilling such a promise would at least offer a representative that is more grounded to the voters that put him or her there.  

It's impossible to tell where this could go but it sure beats the hell out of sitting around chatting about the day the Democrats take sixty percent of the senate. Even if all it amounts to is a few new representatives who actually have a relationship with the voters the day after they are sworn to uphold the Constitution and becomes nothing more than an isolated novelty ignored by the established posers in congress, it would still be worth the effort.

Much less narrow in scope than a few who actually represent and a far more important incentive to work for this change is the effect it will have on constituents. At this point it should be obvious that the ratio of Democrats to republicans is meaningless. The ratio of concerned and active voters to elected officials on either side of the aisle is what matters and we can change that.

Getting one or two candidate to make a campaign promise to connect with the people could be all it takes for a fresh beginning. Offering up responses to letters received, ratios pointing out which way the constituents lean, daily diaries of the representative’s activities with a synopsis of the bills before congress and polls so the voters can vote all year long would certainly generate interest.

Most voters feel that their letters are just a waste of time and for the most part they are absolutely right. If Americans who have written a few letters and gotten either nothing back or vague responses and form letters see something new and bold, the fact that a new letter may appear somewhere could certainly increase the number of Americans writing letters to Congress.

In a nation where so few get involved, the people who have given up may just come back and try again to influence the direction of this nation if there is a new outlet that represents a possible result. The number of voters who do get involved and care about issues will certainly increase and those voters who actually represent the conscience of the nation but are silenced by the powerful would be heard on a new level. Is there anything more important in our efforts to get this nation working again than increasing the number of informed constituents?

Such a move could also have a positive effect on the Netroots. You know how popular a diary is here from an elected official. What if those interactions reach out to people who don’t blog and the results is that they too become bloggers? People who presently have no understanding of FISA may just become plugged in

There is one more incentive where the media is concerned and our relationship with the media. The MSM is starved for controversy because a harsh word about the "opposition party" brings in viewers. Let’s face the fact that the Democrats have failed the people in every way shape and form when it comes to an alternate voice.  If a freshman Democrat is interacting with voters the right thing will be written occasionally and we will be there to forward those statements to the media.

Just those five items are huge steps in the right direction but the long term effects could be even greater. Having some online statements picked up and a newcomers status raised by the media may just get a few other representatives to become interested too. The increased traffic and donations on the ‘online offices’ of "some wet behind the ears newbie" could make a few of those entrenched incumbents jealous and they too will want to get into the game.

Of course if such a move did snowball into a system of voter participation the incumbents would abuse it. Like everything in Washington this concept would come to no good at first but a few representatives would present honest ratios and a balance of the letters received. At first those entrenched so called representatives would most certainly offer false ratios and numbers would be massaged to favor the corporate contributors.  The voter’s letters would be poorly chosen, hand picked to represent the corporate agenda or simply made up by some staffer.  

But if a facade of voter opinions were offered perhaps a few years down the road after a few whistle blower scandals, communication assessments may become a reality. Maybe someday public outcry will lead to a service that doesn’t even exist yet being monitored by the rule of law and overseen by a public advocate.

Perhaps for future generations it will be expected that our leaders vote with the conscience of the people and that conscience will be heard above the corporate media. Maybe someday representation will come out of the closet and any American can just go to their elected official’s webpage  to look up not only upcoming congressional bills but also how their neighbors feel about it and what percentage of the other voters are for or against.

If we the people had a place on our representatives home page they would take an occasional look at their own websites and when the numbers roll in on issues like campaign finance reform and single payer healthcare, they may at least feel the urge to sound ridiculous talking about "silent majorities" or come up with excuses as to why they disagree with their own voters. Someone unwilling to co-sign a bill in congress may feel differently when 85% of the voters are in favor and those numbers are posted right under their noses. Congressional bills for the people like Fair Elections Now Act and United States National Health Insurance Act would start looking a little less like a carrot on a string and see some light of day.

In and of itself website acknowledgment of the voters can not fulfill all of the promises in this diary but it could begin a change in the respect that elected officials show to their voters. It could be a real step toward progress that will lead to more new roads for addressing the issues. Acknowledging voter opinion could not only transform stump speeches to action, it may just influence what the Republicans will promise when seeking election.

It would take an enormous effort to bring about such a change in the way elected officials relate to constituents but it would take some influence away from special interest groups and add some power to ordinary interest groups like the American public.