I’ve found myself in a curious situation. It occurred to me recently that I didn’t vote for anybody whose job it is to represent me. From the local level all the way to the “president”, I didn’t vote for a single one of them.
I didn’t vote for the state legislators who represent my district, and I certainly didn’t vote for our governor. I didn’t vote for my U.S. Representative nor did I vote for either of the two U.S. Senators from my state. And, I sure as hell didn’t vote for Joe Biden.
So, I find myself in a situation where I have nobody in my corner. There’s no one fighting for me. Because no one who is supposed to be looking out for my interests actually shares my interests. Everyone who is in the position to make things happen are making things happen that I don’t agree with.
If I am truly represented by those elected to serve, shouldn’t I have at least a tiny expectation that my own concerns will be addressed? You’d think that would be the case. But it isn’t so.
Pick an issue. Any issue. I guarantee you that the opinions and actions of my elected officials, anywhere up the chain, will be diametrically opposed to my own opinions.
I have no voice, and yet I’m expected to pay taxes to support their ridiculous initiatives. It looks to me like a classic case of taxation without representation. I wonder how many people find themselves in the same curious situation where the people elected to represent them don’t represent them at all.
We don’t elect people because of their qualifications. We elect people because they’re better at getting more votes than the other guy. That’s it. The only thing that separates the winners from the losers is an effective Marketing campaign. There is no intelligence test nor is there any requirement for them to even prove that possess any competency whatsoever. The people we elect aren’t the best and brightest, they’re merely the ones who are really good at tricking people into thinking that they are.
There may have been a time when we elected people because of their wisdom and ability to compromise. We used to elect people who could reach across the aisle and do things that might not be popular but were in the best interest of our country. But that’s not what happens these days. Because the best interest of our country has taken a backseat to popularity.
When did this change? I’ll tell you when. It changed when we started having career politicians instead of public servants.
Years ago, people chose to go into public service. Now they choose to go into politics. If elected, they used to be “in office”. Now, they’re “in power”. The notion of a politician being a public servant has completely disappeared, and with it any semblance of honor, duty, or sacrifice.
For a career politician to have a career in politics, they need to stay in power. That means every action they take is evaluated, not to determine its correctness, but to determine the likelihood that it will get them votes. There’s no benefit to a politician for doing the “right thing”. They only benefit by doing things that will cause the people who voted for them before to vote for them again.
There should be no such thing as a career politician, there should only be public servants. Being “in office” should be a sacrifice, not a pathway to wealth. Because as long as a politician’s only goal is to remain “in power”, they’re not motivated to act in the best interest of anyone other than themselves.
And that leaves people like me, the people who didn’t vote for them, without a voice.
