Something has been bugging me lately. Well, it's bugged me for quite a while, but it's really starting to bother me now as there is all this talk of violence and disrupting political discourse.
In our political system, we vote for a number of representatives whose role is to protect our interests in the government. Other people have different representatives. Some of the elected officials represent only a small number of people, and others represent a larger number, with the largest going to the president. In the legislative bodies, the basic idea is that our representatives duke things out, using the force of their rhetoric, in order to craft our laws.
Now, everyone has an absolute right to contact their representatives and to make their opinions known. However, and this is the part that's bugging me: I don't think it is a good thing for people to contact other people's representatives. I think that crossing constituent boundaries goes against the grain our our whole system, and I think that it is actually feeding the current problem.
It is obviously true that we are all affected by many actions of Congress, so it may seem obvious that we should contact individual members who are influential, regardless of whether or not we are a constituent. But it is unnecessary and disruptive. It increases the noise level and does not help the debate. If you want to influence someone else's representative, what you are supposed to do is to convince your representative to do his or her job: it is they who should be working for your interests by influencing the key legislators on important issues.
Obviously, lobbyists often violate this principle, since they are not constituents. In some cases, though, lobbyists are hired to represent constituents--I know of cases of that right here in my local county--and that seems all right to me. But I don't see where a national organization has any business putting pressure on my representatives. They do not represent the entire nation, they represent me and my neighbors (in the case of US senators, a lot of them).
But what is causing an awful lot of noise right now is people and groups crossing over into other districts where they are not constitutents, by phone, email, or in person, to influence someone else's representative. This is particularly bad when the resulting discord makes it difficult or impossible for constitutents to have a dialog with their own representatives. It seems obvious to me that this damages a fundamental element, if not the most fundamental element, of our representative democracy.
To summarize this little rant: I think we should put as much pressure as possible on our own representatives in government at all levels to do our will and to protect our interests, not just by voting, but by deliberating, caucusing, dialoguing, and persuading their colleagues. In other words, to do their job fully.
There is also an interesting consequence of this that could be helpful in dealing with unruly town meetings: instead of "open" town meetings, make them constituent meetings. To participate, you must be registered to vote in the local district. There already are lots of meetings like that for other purposes. I think that this would help reduce the noise level a lot and facilitate the actual exchange of information and ideas. And if there is disruption, then at least it will be neighbors disrupting neighbors instead of outsiders doing it.
Thanks for reading it
Greg Shenaut