As more calls for bad politicians to resign have grown over the past week, I have been thinking about whether we should start scrutinizing those who put these politicions into office in the first place a bit more; the voters. Follow me below the fold for my thoughts, and to add yours:
Last week, while I was watching Keith Olbermann, he listed State Representative Cynthia Davis of Missouri as one of his worst persons in the world. Davis had apparently ranted about how school kids should not be eligible for school assisted lunch program money during the summer. Quoting from Countdown, Davis believed that under privileged kids should not get this additional assitance because:
Can‘t they get a job during the summer by the time they‘re 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals. Tip—if you work for McDonald‘s, they will feed you for free during your break
In response, Representative Davis apparently wrote a pseudo-appology for her remarks. On June 24th, Keith gave a very good line by line response, which can be reviewed here, but one thing he said bothered me, and continues to bother me in light of the Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin matter: Keither merely requested Representative Davis to resign.
Now, I completely agree, Davis should resign for her comments, but what good does resignation really do when the heart of the problem is the voters who put these individuals into office? It is more troubling to me that someone who is this heartless about the plight of children is voted into office in the first place rather than having the debate as to whether the person should resign after the election results have been tallied up. Though I am not from Missouri, I have seen enough of Ms. Davis' mentality while I lived in an incredibly red state. However, the thing that bothers me the most about these individuals is that in many (but not all) cases, they truly represent the views of their constituents.
And yet, I feel helpless at times fighting this mentality within my own community. Even though I did my part to get progressives elected, I was always shocked at the apathy and bitterness of many people whose doorbells I rang or met face-to-face during a campaign trail. Basically, the mentality was, "I have what I need, now let others get what they need without my help." Though I agree that this mentality has gone down significantly within the past year, I beleive that more must be done to make sure that it does not rise up again.
So, my question to the Daily Kos community is how do we make sure that we squash this mentality that has elected people like Ms. Davis to their high offices in the first place? Obviously, some progress has been made, but I fear that the resentment of people like Ms. Davis towards the poor runs incredibly deep.
I look forward to your thoughts.