Democracy?

What is democracy?

Our government has been described as being "of the people, by the people, and for the people", but is that really true anymore? Those serving in Washington, and in many state governments, are completely oblivious to the desires of the populous of this nation.

Our representative form of democracy was created with the idea that although the voice of every American could not be heard individually on every issue, those voices could be amplified through a representative mouthpiece. It has always been the responsibility of those serving in the Federal government to represent us. Our responsibility is to stay abreast of the issues, express our views to our elected officials, and remind those officials who they work for.

It is so easy to communicate in our day and age that it is inexcusable to remain silent on important issues. It is even more untenable for our representatives to ignore the voices of those that placed them in office.

The ease with which we are currently able to communicate should make it reasonable for our government to act as a true democracy, and yet, they continue to act on their own, in direct contradiction to the feelings of the People. Bills that haven't even been read by our representatives are being forced through Congress. If the people in Washington that are engaged full-time in lawmaking were unable to review the bill before it was passed, how were any of the rest of us supposed to be able to understand the bill and voice our opinions to our representatives. It is impossible for Congress to truly represent us if they act in secret, behind closed doors, pursuing their own personal agendas.

I believe that a better forum can and should be provided for us to tell our elected officials how we feel on issues that they are preparing to vote on. Emails, phone calls, and letters are great but I want to see how the rest of the people in the areas represented by certain officials feel. I think that a record should be kept and made available through the respective representative's website that shows the results of the "local voting" which is conducted informally through our correspondence with these representatives. Only after our voices are heard should our representatives act. They should be acting for us and not replacing our thoughts, values, and opinions with their own.

I think it is dangerous that we do not currently have term limits for our House and Senate representatives. There have been movements at the state level to institute such measures for their national representative but they have been quashed by the Supreme Court. There have been promises made in the past that Congress would self-impose term limits but these words were only that. A national movement, possibly a Constitutional Amendment, would be needed to make this a reality.1 Congressmen and Senators get quite comfortable in their positions and start to act on their own because they know that as a general rule, once they become a household name, it is very difficult to unseat them. These positions should not be a career. They should be a civic duty that is performed for a limited number of years before they return to the private sector. New blood needs to circulate through the halls of Congress to ensure that our representatives remember why they are there.

I'd love to hear any comments that anyone has about either of these issues so feel free to leave a comment and/or direct me to any related information that you have found interesting.