Why Don't They Just Do What I Say?

                I was having a conversation with a few other women recently about the state of our current political environment. One of the women that I was talking to was very young. I was discussing the recent special election in Arizona’s CD8. She expressed to me that she didn’t feel voting was that important since the politicians didn’t do what we wanted them to do anyway, so why bother voting if they just do whatever they want.  I have also found that frustration with our politicians for this exact reason is not uncommon.  So why don’t our politicians listen to us? Why don’t they do what we want them to?

                First off, our politicians do listen to us. They listen to all of us. They listen to those who have logical sound ideas backed up facts and sources and they listen to those who have half-baked ideas concocted after reading some blog post on the internet written by a fourteen year old child that got his idea from half a conversation he overheard his parents discussing. Then they listen to all those that are somewhere in between.  They listen to the special interest groups, the lobbyists and their fellow politicians. They listen to the chatter on the internet, they listen to everything.  So the real question is why they don’t do what you want them to. 

                Reason 1: It’s not all about you. Wait, what? It’s not? No, it is not all about you. Our elected officials were elected by a large group of people consisting of more than you. These politicians are supposed to do what is best for the whole, not just you.  To put it into simpler terms, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.  Note the word NEED, I did not say want.

                Reason 2: The people are stupid.  Most people have no idea what any one piece of legislation actually says. And that is OK. That is why we elect these officials. We don’t have time to read through every 2,700 page bill to decide if we agree with it or not. We have lives. We have jobs, school, kids, families and budgets to balance. We don’t have time to deal with all of this nonsense as well. So we elect people and we pay them to read these bills and vote on them for us. The problems occur when people decide that they opposed to these bills with no actual reasons why. People get most of their information from the major news organizations that all have spin (I don’t care if you think it’s Fair and Balanced, it is NOT) or worse yet, they get their news from Facebook. Yes, they get their reliable information from memes on the internet, that are usually completely made up. Then they preach this false information to the world and feel like they have done their civic duty. Guess what, just because you saw it on the internet, doesn’t make it true. 

                Reason 3: Their job is not to do what we tell them to. I know that seems wrong, but that is not their job. They can’t do what we want them to because we all want them to do different things. Even people in the same political party don’t always agree on everything.  Their job is to listen to the people, read the legislation and decide what would be best for the people. And there are many times that the politicians are doing what the people want, they just don’t realize it, because they didn’t want to read the legislation. But instead decided its merit off of what the major news organizations have told them. The job of our elected officials is to do what is best for the people they represent, all of them.

                So if you feel that your politician is not listening to you, my first thought is that you haven’t even tried to communicate with them. Have you written to them? Have you called their office? Probably not. What I’m sure you have done, is bitch to your friends and post it all over Facebook that these guys all suck and they don’t care about the people at all. Now, you could be right, they may not care at all. They may be in it for that check, but before demonizing these people, at least do your part. That's right, you have a part in all of this!

                Now, if you don’t feel that they are doing what you want them to, ask yourself this: Have you read the pieces of legislation that you disapprove of that they voted for, or didn’t vote for? Or have you even read just those parts that you really don’t like? If you have, maybe you should attend a local town hall meeting or congress on your corner and actually ask the political in front of everyone why they did or did not vote that way. You may not like the reason, you may not agree with it, but you will get an answer. Or you could just continue to sit on your couch and telling your friends on Facebook that you could do a much better job than these asshats in congress. If that truly is the case, please, run for office. If you are that awesome, you are doing the people a great disservice by not running. If not, get over yourself.

                If you want to participate in democracy, please do. But inform yourself first. I don’t always agree with the people I vote for, but when I don’t I take the time to read those pieces of legislation to make sure I understand the entire picture before I get angry about it. We won’t always agree on everything, or anything, but please remember that if you don’t know what you are talking about, your opinion isn’t really worth much. And what is voted on isn’t all about you, but you have the right to make your voice heard.  And while you may think we should just go to majority rule remember this; if our country was left up to majority rule, we’d still have slaves and women wouldn’t have the right to vote.