In the face of a disappointing legislative session... and trust me, this one has been really bad for us... I asked myself this rhetorical question: What is a legislator? What are they supposed to do? Who are they supposed to be responsible to?
I can add to that, what is any elected official in a law-making capacity supposed to do?
We would like to think that our voices and opinions matter.
We would like to think that.
But from the very heights of position in this country down to the closest, local-level elected policy makers we're frequently shown that what we want... how we've voted... what our needs or wants are... absolutely do not matter.
Here's my favorite example of an elected official admitting what I've known for years:
Is that what "representative government" is supposed to be?
I looked it up on answers.com... this is what they had to say:
The special interest money behind the pot initiative has been very busy, getting legislation done that will not hold them accountable for their lie of a campaign, which claimed that passage of pot legalization would result in $582 million per year in our general fund... and hasn't even approached... and will never approach... even 20% of that figure.
This kind of thing sends the wrong message: it sends the message that it's perfectly OK to lie to get you initiative passed, and we'll come along behind you and clean up your mess; not by holding you personally accountable... but instead, by completely letting you off the hook.
WADOT is a mess. Yet those elected to look out for us ignore us and then pop us with a $15 billion tax. And where is that money going?
It provides anyone, government or otherwise, an incentive to lie, mislead, exaggerate and manipulate the voting public merely by promising them (us) the moon plus two dollars to make something happen... to get their own way... but not, by God, allowing us to vote on it.... and slapping an emergency clause on it (REPUBLICANS DID THAT) to make it even harder to put it to a vote.
Starting as far back as Paul Allen scamming us for the Seahawks Stadium with the promise that since it's a PFD, the books would be open for inspection (Which has never ONCE happened) through Sound Transit's initial lie on the length and the costs of their light rail scam (That one was OK, I guess; it was only twice as expensive as they claimed for many fewer miles... something like $4 Billion for 14 miles as opposed to the promised $2.2 billion for 20 miles) through the disaster of Bertha the Tunnel/Money Monster in Seattle through our own local liars on the CRC/Loot Rail scam to the scum behind the lie of the pot legalization initiative... to specific candidates like Tim "The Liar" Leave-it who lied to get elected by virtue of claiming he was against tolls... when I, among others, knew that was a lie from the get-go, to Scott "The Liar" Weber, who lied about working to get his position of county clerk eliminated as an elective position so HE could get elected to our lying scumbag of an Auditor, Greg Kimsey, who illegally campaigned for while repeatedly lying about the Charter scam to get it passed...
Lying has been taken to an art form. And no one in office is doing anything about it.
Except to reinforce it as a campaign strategy.
Regular readers know that I hammer those allegedly representing us for refusing to implement our will.
I beat on our local excuse of a congresswook like a drum because she's utterly worthless compared to what she could be, a coward who refuses to even hold town hall meetings and who uses her sick infant child as a campaign prop.
Recent efforts were made to bring that twit to heel, but the local party completely blew their opportunity and, effectively, did nothing to her for years of rampant RINO-ism. And I was stunned to hear a PCO actually say that once we're (Stupid enough) to elect someone, we have NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN, AND THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
Insane.
I beat on Brandon Vick because his tenure has been even worse than I anticipated. He's lies like people breathe, he mails it in... he gets nothing done and is, frankly, an embarrassment to the legislative process.
How many times has Jim "Molehill" Moeller lied to us about the CRC? Or that Hobbit Senator from the 49th, Annette Cleveland, lied about that project as well?
How many times have those in Congress generally lied to us, most recently, the mass of GOP'ers elected because they were going to stop Obama's illegal alien amnesty... and stop Obamacare?
How's that looking?
I suppose, as an electorate, we are partially at fault: we shouldn't be so gullible.
But it's something of a vicious circle: those elected ignore us and insult us when we disagree with them and then, like Steve Stuart, get paid off to do it; more people realize that in the end, it really doesn't matter who we elect, the outcome is the same; fewer people bother to vote (I really can't see myself voting again... since even when I win, I lose) and that all enables those elected to ignore us and insult us... and so forth.
At one time, I was at something of the pinnacle of political power... not in it, to be sure, but in it's periphery. Now, 15 years or so latter, I write this completely disillusioned... told I have to support someone entirely because they're the friend of somebody... even though her positions on the issues confronting us diametrically oppose those of the "friend."
Told that the will of the people doesn't matter when the time comes to answer the roll.
Told that it's just one voice in a sea of many, like "right" or "wrong" is a meaningless, nebulous concept to be shunted aside at whim... and that the voices of those governed become stillborn into a roaring silence.
And I am ashamed.
This was once a great country... the greatest the world has ever known.
Look at us now. A travesty wrapped in a tragedy because no one listens who can make a difference.
I can add to that, what is any elected official in a law-making capacity supposed to do?
We would like to think that our voices and opinions matter.
We would like to think that.
But from the very heights of position in this country down to the closest, local-level elected policy makers we're frequently shown that what we want... how we've voted... what our needs or wants are... absolutely do not matter.
Here's my favorite example of an elected official admitting what I've known for years:
Is that what "representative government" is supposed to be?
I looked it up on answers.com... this is what they had to say:
A state representative helps people and tries to move society forward and also tries to make society a better place for all people to live in. Some of the responsibilities of a state representative are: 1. Vote on laws. 2. Assist people with constituent services. 3. Try to improve the communities they represent. 4. Protect the taxpayers money by making sure tax dollars are spent on education, affordable housing, reasonable transportation, fire and police protection, etc. If communities do not have strong representatives that listen to the voice of the people, you end up with representatives that dictate their own goals and agendas, and represent special interest groups that give them money. A state rep should also have had a strong background in community involvement and advocacy prior to becoming a state representative. This service need not have been on a political level but one should be able to look at their history and see that this is a person that cares for the well-being of others and have made positive contributions and is unselfish.The critical element here, boldfaced, is this:
If communities do not have strong representatives that listen to the voice of the people, you end up with representatives that dictate their own goals and agendas, and represent special interest groups that give them money.Indeed.
The special interest money behind the pot initiative has been very busy, getting legislation done that will not hold them accountable for their lie of a campaign, which claimed that passage of pot legalization would result in $582 million per year in our general fund... and hasn't even approached... and will never approach... even 20% of that figure.
This kind of thing sends the wrong message: it sends the message that it's perfectly OK to lie to get you initiative passed, and we'll come along behind you and clean up your mess; not by holding you personally accountable... but instead, by completely letting you off the hook.
WADOT is a mess. Yet those elected to look out for us ignore us and then pop us with a $15 billion tax. And where is that money going?
It provides anyone, government or otherwise, an incentive to lie, mislead, exaggerate and manipulate the voting public merely by promising them (us) the moon plus two dollars to make something happen... to get their own way... but not, by God, allowing us to vote on it.... and slapping an emergency clause on it (REPUBLICANS DID THAT) to make it even harder to put it to a vote.
Starting as far back as Paul Allen scamming us for the Seahawks Stadium with the promise that since it's a PFD, the books would be open for inspection (Which has never ONCE happened) through Sound Transit's initial lie on the length and the costs of their light rail scam (That one was OK, I guess; it was only twice as expensive as they claimed for many fewer miles... something like $4 Billion for 14 miles as opposed to the promised $2.2 billion for 20 miles) through the disaster of Bertha the Tunnel/Money Monster in Seattle through our own local liars on the CRC/Loot Rail scam to the scum behind the lie of the pot legalization initiative... to specific candidates like Tim "The Liar" Leave-it who lied to get elected by virtue of claiming he was against tolls... when I, among others, knew that was a lie from the get-go, to Scott "The Liar" Weber, who lied about working to get his position of county clerk eliminated as an elective position so HE could get elected to our lying scumbag of an Auditor, Greg Kimsey, who illegally campaigned for while repeatedly lying about the Charter scam to get it passed...
Lying has been taken to an art form. And no one in office is doing anything about it.
Except to reinforce it as a campaign strategy.
Regular readers know that I hammer those allegedly representing us for refusing to implement our will.
I beat on our local excuse of a congresswook like a drum because she's utterly worthless compared to what she could be, a coward who refuses to even hold town hall meetings and who uses her sick infant child as a campaign prop.
Recent efforts were made to bring that twit to heel, but the local party completely blew their opportunity and, effectively, did nothing to her for years of rampant RINO-ism. And I was stunned to hear a PCO actually say that once we're (Stupid enough) to elect someone, we have NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN, AND THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
Insane.
I beat on Brandon Vick because his tenure has been even worse than I anticipated. He's lies like people breathe, he mails it in... he gets nothing done and is, frankly, an embarrassment to the legislative process.
How many times has Jim "Molehill" Moeller lied to us about the CRC? Or that Hobbit Senator from the 49th, Annette Cleveland, lied about that project as well?
How many times have those in Congress generally lied to us, most recently, the mass of GOP'ers elected because they were going to stop Obama's illegal alien amnesty... and stop Obamacare?
How's that looking?
I suppose, as an electorate, we are partially at fault: we shouldn't be so gullible.
But it's something of a vicious circle: those elected ignore us and insult us when we disagree with them and then, like Steve Stuart, get paid off to do it; more people realize that in the end, it really doesn't matter who we elect, the outcome is the same; fewer people bother to vote (I really can't see myself voting again... since even when I win, I lose) and that all enables those elected to ignore us and insult us... and so forth.
At one time, I was at something of the pinnacle of political power... not in it, to be sure, but in it's periphery. Now, 15 years or so latter, I write this completely disillusioned... told I have to support someone entirely because they're the friend of somebody... even though her positions on the issues confronting us diametrically oppose those of the "friend."
Told that the will of the people doesn't matter when the time comes to answer the roll.
Told that it's just one voice in a sea of many, like "right" or "wrong" is a meaningless, nebulous concept to be shunted aside at whim... and that the voices of those governed become stillborn into a roaring silence.
And I am ashamed.
This was once a great country... the greatest the world has ever known.
Look at us now. A travesty wrapped in a tragedy because no one listens who can make a difference.
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