The Problem with Politicians
by Big Dog on Feb 14, 2008 at 23:15 Political
There is a battle brewing with regard to the Super Delegates in the Democratic Party. Hillary’s folks think they should select who they want and remain committed to those who they pledged up front. Obama’s people think the vote should go to the candidate who won the district represented by the SD. I really don’t care how they do it because they set this up under the assumption that the SDs knew better and could make the tough choices and now they are all praying the primary process takes care of it so they will not have to. Super Delegates are not specifically representatives of the people. They were given the power to select who they wanted and there were no stipulations placed on them in that regard. As far as I am concerned they can pick who they want because the rules say they can. My problem is with a statement made by a politician.
One black supporter of Clinton, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, said he remains committed to her. “There’s nothing going on right now that would cause me to” change, he said.
He said any suggestion that elected leaders should follow their voters “raises the age old political question. Are we elected to monitor where our constituents are … or are we to use our best judgment to do what’s in the best interests of our constituents.” My Way News
If he was speaking solely about the SDs I would agree that he should do it according to what he wants because there are no conditions on them. However, he is saying it is the age old question of do they do what their constituents want or what they [the politicians] think is in the best interests of the constituents. He is a Representative which means he represents a group of people. He should be voting based upon what the majority of his constituents want. The collective of his district know what is best for them and they do not need to be second guessed by a politician. Let me put it another way for Representative Cleaver and all other politicians who have this attitude and who think they need to question the judgment of their constituency:
Don’t question the judgment of your constituency, look who they voted into office.
This is the problem with politicians. They believe that being elected to office makes them smarter than everyone else and that they know what is best. How dare we peons tell them how we want them to vote? Remember when more than 80% of the country wanted the amnesty bill shot down they still voted for it and called us racists. They do not listen because they think they know more than we do or that they know what is best for us. The amazing thing is they won’t trust our judgment during their term until they run for office and then they trust us to put them back and they pander to us. Liberals act more liberal, conservatives act more conservative and when they go back they screw us.
Wayne Gilchrest of the 1st Congressional District in Maryland found out what happens when he votes his conscience and not the will of his constituents. He will be watching the general election from home this year. We need to vote all these people out of office. If they go against the majority of the people they represent then we need to get rid of them.
Anyone who says what Cleaver did should be out of office. The last thing I will ever need is a dim witted politician deciding for me. They can’t get their own stuff in order so I will be damned if I need them trying to get mine in order for me.
No thanks…
Tags: Clinton, constituents, convention, Democrats, ignoring, Obama, politicians, super delegate
[…] depressingly ignorant Big Dog has decided to share his great political wisdom with the masses. This time, he’s arguing that politicians must never substitute their judgment for The Will […]
I think it’s pretty clear that most of those tied to constituents are going to vote based on who won that region. Many have come out saying that lately. The problem with the SD is that less than half are tied to constituents. The rest are party big wigs (like Bill Clinton) and DNC members of all ages.
This is what Wikipedia says: “In 2008, the superdelegates include 220 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 48 senators, including the District of Columbia’s two shadow senators, 31 state and territorial governors, 397 members of the Democratic National Committee, 23 distinguished party leaders, and 76 others.”
That fact makes it even trickier, don’t you think? This may be the last year SD even exist because it hasn’t been needed very often and nobody wants their vote canceled out by somebody with a personal agenda such as Bill Clinton who will vote for his wife no matter how many states Obama wins…
Adam’s last blog post..The Potomac Primary
at least big dog has an opinion and does not have to try to belittle someone else’s view. maybe you should slither back to your rock of a blog and stay there meatball
I personally don’t think that there is a problem with them voting any way they want because the rules are set up that way. They made this mess and now they will have to deal with it.
The SDs are free to vote as they wish but they will have to deal with the consequences of their electorate.
To answer an earlier trackback, the people of this country decided with an overwhelming margin to send troops into battle. The Congress did that and the troops are fighting a war. Once we have decided to use force we should let the military run the war.
However, I am willing to bet that if we did a district by district poll there would be more votes in favor of winning than in favor of leaving. Members of Congress should vote the way their constituents want, that is why we send them there.
The Flag burning amendment has about 87% support and the rejection of gay marriage is well over 50% nationally so if we use national polls they should be law. That is why we allow the states to decide these issues, so that areas of huge population do not decide for the rest of the country (a reason the Electoral College is so important). Each state and the districts in the state get to decide.
Does the word Representative mean something different to others?
I might also add that if there are those who believe that politicians should use their judgment and not follow their constituents then they need to shut the hell up about the war. If the Dems are not voting against it then they are using their best judgment…
It can go both ways…