Elected officials face numerous competing pressures on numerous potential course of action. On the one hand you have the ideal course of action, which for a conservative means legislating against the wishes of multiple special interests and rejecting lobbying for favoritism, special rules, subsidies, exemptions, regulations meant to benefit some over others, unfair taxes, unnecessary spending, excessive government, etc. This is a difficult course of action because it swims against the grain of human nature for those that have access to power or who have a stake in seeing government grow. On the other hand you have the easy political road, which means that you start dealing in favors, voting for more spending, voting for special targeted items that benefit certain industries, etc., the result often being increased campaign donations. This is the easiest path forward as unprincipled actions are masked with principled rhetoric while the elected official banks on the likelihood that most voters dont notice these specifics, often on votes that get little press attention to begin with. The principled course is difficult, the unprincipled course appears less difficult in terms of getting re-elected. Many elected officials assume office with lofty ideals and good intentions, but over time, and some quicker than others, the easy path starts speaking to that person, figuratively, like a devil on ones shoulder. Elected officials begin to rationalize a bad vote as being compromise and thus begins the path to more and more bad votes, and this usually coincides with the power establishment then assisting them in their reelection, often meaning millions of dollars in available campaign funds. Elected officials will often lie to themselves by talking about how this is statesmanship or bi-partisanship, as if bi-partisanship is inherently a good thing. Our job as activists is to watch their voting habits and make sure that they perceive more political risk to voting badly. This requires accountability, this requires us to expand our networks, and this requires us to make sure as many people as possible know how that elected official is voting. This is not divisiveness, this is literally the most patriotic form of citizenship. Engaging public officials and insisting they uphold conservative values is absolutely vital to ensuring that legislation meets our expectations. Those with embedded interests will lash out and try to stop you. Ignore those voices as they are a part of the problem. If you cant make them see the light, make them feel the heat -Ronald Reagan
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 18:11:41 +0000
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