Make your politicians more afraid of you than they are of the press or special interests or your opponents.
Can a conservative statesman get re-elected for a second term? Maybe yes, and maybe no. We see the same pattern repeated time after time. Entrenched Republicans or Democrats lose seats while their party is in power because they break faith with the voters. Think about the “good ol’ boy” politician you put back in office…again. He talks a good game, but can you name a single significant piece of legislation he passed in the last several years? We can blame the media who will criticize any cuts in government programs. We must blame ourselves because our politicians fear the media more than they fear us. Here is how the game of politics is played, and how we need to change the game.
We need to know the rules of the game so we can find and help the honest politicians who actually work for us. That is a critical distinction because there are good men in office…and bad ones. If all politicians were bad then this article wouldn’t be helpful. We’d already know what to do. If all politicians were good then then this article wouldn’t be necessary. It is.
Let’s get inside the minds of our elected officials? How would you prosper as a politician?
— First, spend money on study commissions. There are hundreds of them filled with ex-politicians and special interest lobbyists. Welcome to the club, Congressman.
— Write regulations that tax and regulate small businesses or citizens, while funneling money to special interests. It is only a few dollars from each citizen. By doing it over again, you can funnel billions of dollars to your campaign contributors.
–Threaten industries with more regulations so they have to hire lobbyists of their own.
–Collect donations for your next political campaign.
–Bundle money for the party bosses. That will not only get you a sweet committee chairmanship, but it can make you rich!
Notice this. Balancing the budget or defending the constitution by limiting government abuse wasn’t anywhere on the list of things for your elected official to do. Not if he wants to succeed in politics. In fact, reading the bills he votes on, and making a budget, just gets in his way. Sometimes the press takes notice of midnight-rewrites and the special provisions stuffed into legislation. It is easier to govern if you break the rules of the legislature. This is business as usual.
The professional politician is busy pretending to protect you from the problems government caused in the first place.
Politicians need conflict and contention to stay in office. Let’s consider two polarizing issues of our time. We’ve spent trillions of dollars on welfare. Now we can see that the spending is more politically important than actually helping the poor.
We elected conservatives to stop government funded abortion. How will the politicians, either Republican or Democrat, get re-elected if that issue goes away? The politician needs that issue more than you need a solution.
Your politician is busy looking out for himself as he claims to represent you. Voters react in predictable ways. We withdraw.
— We say, “No, I don’t want to fill out the politician’s voter issues survey. Why should I. I won’t help you write your targeted and tailored donor letter that highlights your meaningless votes on my important issues.”
— We say, “No, I won’t send you money because I don’t really know where it is going once I send it to you. I’ll donate to my own candidates, thank you very much.”
If enough of us withdraw, the politician says, “See, the voters don’t care. At least my special interest buddies come around to talk with me. I’ll listen to them, not these knuckleheads back in my district who don’t even bother to fill in my handy-dandy, easy to fill our surveys.” A self-fulfilling prophecy. A vicious cycle.
Meet with your politician’s office manager when the congressman is away. Learn your politician’s schedule and meet with them when they are in their district. Ask when they will have their next town hall meeting. You can have their district office on your phone. Have you called your legislators this week? Make them more afraid of you than they are afraid of the media…but do it politely.
Politicians think they only need to get elected. We the people need to hound our politicians until they represent us. They are afraid of being on the “wrong” side of an issue. It is our job to make politicians fear us more than they fear the press.
You can find your elected official’s contact information here.
Image: Excerpted from: photo credit: DonkeyHotey Corporate Threat to Liberty (Painting) via photopin (license)
