Recently, Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page released a study of nearly 1800 issues from 1981 to 2002 in which a national survey asked a favor/oppose question about the issue.
This is how they assessed the public's influence on policy:
The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.
In other words, as most people I know already knew, we're
not really a democracy.
I was curious this morning though: Are any of our politicians fighting for democracy?
So I thought up a quick experiment in which I could use your help. Visit the election website for your U.S. Congressperson and 2 U.S. Senators. The election site is their campaign site, not their official U.S. government page.
Here's my representative's campaign site (Steve Chabot).
Look for where they post their issues.
Then post the following in the comments:
- Representative's name
- Position (Senate/Congress) and State
- Party
- List of issues they support
- Link to their issues page
- Screenshot of issues page if you can post it somewhere and link to it (or e-mail to me at akadjian@yahoo.com)
Info about my representatives is below as an example. I'll collate and publish what I can next week.
I'm curious about 2 things: 1) Is anyone fighting for democracy? and 2) Are there any common themes among the issues?
Thank you in advance for any assistance with my madcap schemes and happy 4th!
Congressman Steve Chabot R-OH
- U.S. Congressman Ohio District 1
- Republican
- Revitalizing the Economy, Health Care, Energy, Government Spending, Protecting Social Security, and Veterans
- http://www.stevechabot.com/...
Senator Sherrod Brown D-OH
- U.S. Senator, Ohio
- Democrat
- Ohio Jobs, Our Energy Future, Fiscal Responsibility, Agriculture and Ohio's Rural Economy, A Family Doctor for Every Family, and Standing Up for Every Family
- http://www.sherrodbrown.com/...
Senator Rob Portman R-OH
- U.S. Senator, Ohio
- Republican
- Promoting Pro-Jobs Policies, Defending the 2nd Amendment, Repealing Obamacare, Reducing Government Spending, Protecting Life
- http://www.robportman.com/...
Senator Portman's web development team wins bonus points for the snazzy icons. Without the descriptions, I would have guessed Portman stood for:
- Angry construction workers
- Guns
- Obamacare (look how they put Obama's symbol on top of the medical caduceus!)
- Charts and graphs
- Child safety seats
- Cell phone towers