Unless you, if you’re are a citizen of the United States, have been living under the proverbial rock, you can’t have missed the gazillion campaign signs that are littering our already littered streets. I don’t believe they held elections in Oz, which was not a good thing, but, I can’t really say it would have been a good thing, especially when you (honestly) consider the clap-trap that masquerades as campaign promises.
In the spirit of transparency, I no longer believe we, the small and humble citizens of a very divided country, are represented either in the House of the Senate. For that matter, I don’t think “we” are represented by state or local politicians. All the campaign robo-calls and totally bland and repetitious campaign material that arrives on a daily basis from the beginning of October to election day are, in my opinion, farcical. Once the votes have been cast you never hear from your elected official unless they are blowing their own horn to assure a win in the next election.
The House of Representatives is based on the population of a state. Seven states have only one representative in the House. The big state of Montana has an area of slightly more than 140,000 square miles. The single-represented state of Delaware has less than 2000 square miles. Big difference, right? Then take New Jersey with 12 representatives and a land mass area of 8,700 square miles.
It’s people, not size that matters in our representative form of government. But that makes me scratch my head, because how is it really possible to represent the million people of Montana when they are so spread out? The rep. from Delaware, a state with about the same population as Montana, is maybe about 1.5 the area of Montana. Hell, all the congressperson from Delaware has to do is talk to their people is go on a street corner and speak loudly.
Taken individually, no state really has any super power. It might have some muscle, but it is the sum of all states along party lines that make a difference. With 435 members in the House of Representatives, numbers do matter. Blue numbers versus red numbers.
It’s all bull shit to me. “My” elected officials don’t really care about “me.” Other than getting vote to get their ass in a congressional seat, I don’t matter squat. For far too long our elections follow the idea of “to the victor belong the spoils.” 40% of a states electorate matter little if they didn’t vote for the winner. I don’t care what we are supposed to believe, “our” representatives vote according to party lines…especially if they want to run for re-election.
That’s why I believe one of the things we need to change is term limits. (Over 40 years ago when I was being considered as a White House Fellow, I wrote about term limits in my application. Need I tell you where that got me.)
The day after a House Rep gets elected they begin campaigning for the next election. Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware served 18 years on the House of Representatives, meaning he had to launch some nine campaigns!
To form a better federally represented government, why not increase a representative’s term to four years with ONLY one additional term in office.
To be honest, that really wouldn’t fix the problem. Party politics would trump any chance of really getting people in office who have no agenda, other than serving…and are willing to really represent all of the people, not just some of the people.
Our divided country is only going to stay divided after these mid-term elections because close to 50% of the people will fail to feel represented because their candidate did not win.
The 2022 mid-term election is much like the World Series. Astro fans and Philly fans only care about their team. Even after a winner is declared anger and division will continue.
Along The Yellow Brick Road 