The wRIGHT Way

By Ron Wright

(Cazenovia, NY – Jan. 2012) As the political season heats up, it becomes a bit wearisome to see tired statistics about how unpopular congress is. The old saying that “all politics is local” carries a lot of weight.

You hear that the current U.S. congress has about a 9-percent positive rating in the opinion of the public. How were those polling questions worded? And remember you vote for only one U.S. congressional representative: the one who is running in your congressional district.

Since there are 434 other districts in the U.S. House of Representatives, you have no say about who wins in those races. If only your congressperson is doing what you want, what do you expect people in other districts to say if they don’t feel congress is getting much done? What if congress got lots of things done, but you disagree with those accomplishments?

Congress would get a negative rating from you, anyway. So what does such polling prove? The members of congress are each doing their job when they vote for or against something. The polls could show a 49-plus-percent approval and have the same cause-and-effect as a 9-percent rating.

It is easy for an individual to seemingly stand above the fray and cast criticism on various parts of the government while saying dumb things like, “My candidate didn’t win, so my vote didn’t count,” or “Fire all of them!”

Did you ever stop to think that in democratic republic there may be almost no good short-term answers for the serious problems that now exist in this country? Or the excruciating work it is to get a consensus about what, if anything, to do about those problems?

Sometimes the only thing that can be agreed upon in congress is to kick the can down the road.

Then we get on the subject of electoral votes compared with a direct popular vote for electing national office-holders. The electoral provision was created by the founding fathers for a reason. A “popular vote” view does not properly protect the interests of individual states. And the electoral vote approach helps prevent the further balkanization of America.

It is getting bad enough now with the northeast and west coast pitted against the heartland and the south. In the long run, this phenomenon is not good for the nation.

And the proponents of third parties? Do you really want a president who only received maybe 34 percent of the vote? Or in the case of a four-party split, how about only 26 percent of the vote winning the presidency?

We’re getting down to the realm of some possibly far-out candidates who could pull just a quarter of the popular vote and still win a national election. If it just happens to be “your candidate,” you might feel fortunate, but it could be someone very marginal with little support across the country at large.

Arguably, the most powerful person in the U.S. government now may be the majority leader of the Senate. Being elected in 2010 for another six-year term and being a senior to boot, what does he have to lose? He can bottle up and prevent voting on any bill that was sent over by the house.

On ideological issues, he may refuse to allow a vote on anything he doesn’t like or anticipates he may lose. He just takes the heat but no one can force him to do anything. If the senate majority leader is against a bill, the house of representatives is stopped in its tracks.

Any wonder congress is getting only a 9-percent approval rating?

And add to this the whining about how difficult it is to register or to vote. Even an invalid can register and vote. Just ask someone for help!

As for having to provide identification, why would someone not be able to identify him- or herself for this or any other legitimate purpose? You have to identify yourself to get a driver’s license, apply for Social Security or get on an airplane, so what is it about registering and voting? It is either you don’t care enough about voting or there is some reason you don’t want to be identified.

Remember the guy in Ohio who, prior to the 2008 election had registered 83 times? And we should have no concerns about this sort of thing? If you personally just don’t care enough to register or vote, some interest group will try to coax you and maybe bribe you or drag you to the poles hoping you will vote for their particular candidates.

Or what about the subject of dangerous criminals (murderers, drug dealers, bank robbers, etc.) having their voting privileges revoked? Do you really want career criminals involved in deciding who will win an election? Would you want one of these people in your home or on the loose, let alone voting? Dangerous criminals just do not think like responsible citizens.

Or what about having to speak and understand English? How can you intelligently vote for a person if you can’t even understand what they are saying? And what about people who just vote for perhaps the tallest or best-looking candidate? Or what about people who don’t have the slightest interest in civics or in the history of the United States?

And finally about those folks who say “Why can’t politicians just get along together and play nice?” Do they think this is a game? In general, decisions (laws and regulations) made at high levels can often have serious, even life-or-death consequences. There is no reason to throw chairs or resort to fist fights, as happens in some nations’ legislatures, but passion and strong talk is to be expected.

We could have had a dictatorial form of government with no strident debate or hard hitting political give and take on the issues.

Ron Wright of Cazenovia is a retiree with keen interest in his family, history, politics and his church. He began putting his thoughts on paper a little over a decade ago to share with family and friends. He can be reached at madnews@m3pmedia.com.