Thursday, March 10, 2011

Our Best Interests

This morning in the Washington Post is the headline ‘Congressional freshmen include dozens of millionaires, financial disclosures show’. The piece states that the ‘members of this year’s freshman class in Congress are far wealthier than the people they represent…’ I find that most intriguing for a number of reasons.

Money talks as they say – so the bigger the purse the better the campaign right?
Not necessarily.
How about the bigger the purse the smarter one is?
Not necessarily.
How about this - those with the biggest purses are the best lawmakers to represent us?
Not necessarily.

So why is it when someone says they are interested in running for a political position – the first question asked is ‘how much money do they have’?

Maybe we should start asking some deeper and more pertinent questions – such as to their character. Perhaps starting with their fiscal and policy beliefs and why they believe what they believe. If someone campaigning says they are ‘for this’ and ‘against that’ we need to make sure they are REALLY for or against it. Sadly, this hasn’t been the overwhelming case.

Many that have been elected recently have now turned the page on their campaign promises. Terms of ‘I won’t hurt those with dirt under their fingernails’ is heard – referring to the unions, ‘You’ve misunderstood’ when in fact we’ve misunderstood nothing but have called them out on their shortcomings and about face from their promises. Many more say ‘you simply do not understand’ when in fact we more than understand.

We the People are a smart bunch and getting smarter each day. It is in our best interest to ask the tough questions, call our representatives to the mat when they break their promises, and be diligently watching – all of them - regardless if you ‘love them’ or don’t.

We need to make sure that every piece of legislation they sign on to, or vote for, or won’t take up is done in the name of our best interests, not their best interests.
Stay alert, stay focused, our nation is at risk.