What Should be Common Sense...

By Jason Vines

As anyone who’s not residing in a cave would know, most American politicians don’t have the interests of their constituents foremost on their minds. Their goal is to increase their power; if their constituents benefit, that’s just a pleasant side effect. Many politicians don’t even bother to articulate how they would serve their constituents. They just toss out a few vague ideas about their political leanings, and then rely upon their charisma to gain support. Beyond acquiring power, a lot of politicians seemingly haven’t a clue what they plan actually to accomplish.

The majority of Americans complain about this sordid state of affairs, but each Election Day, they send the same power hungry opportunists back to Washington, or new opportunists just as odious as their predecessors. The vile character of American politics survives because the voters do nothing to kill it. Instead of demanding that their representatives explain what they plan to do in office, and why they plan to do it, Americans judge political contenders based solely upon their personality and their empathy. Almost all modern elections are contests between incessant sycophants who make people feel good rather than between innovative visionaries who promulgate genuinely new ideas.

If this country is to stem its descent into governmental decadence, it needs a new paradigm of politics.

The American voters are the only people who can instigate such a change. Politicians will happily maintain the status quo without impetus to do otherwise. To provide that impetus, the voters must dispose of the current order of politicians who speak constantly while saying nothing, who work only for their own aggrandizement. The voters must disregard how politicians make them feel, and emphasize what politicians make them think. When politicians proclaim the values for which they stand, voters must force the politicians to explain how they would apply those values to policies and procedures. For example, politicians who say they support "common sense gun control" must describe precisely the sort of gun control bills for which they would vote. They can’t get away with stating a position, then neglecting to elucidate their exact plan of action. And if politicians say anything about feeling anybody’s pain or doing anything for the children, the voters should reject them automatically for employing insulting and idiotic clichés.

Of course, even politicians who win elections based on ideology and policy more than on charisma and personality can still be corrupt. The voters must safeguard against this by expelling and condemning any politician who participates in malfeasance. The public can’t tolerate illegal campaign contributions or lies under oath. Politicians must learn that anything other than honest and forthright behavior is unacceptable. Even if the complete trustworthiness of America’s politicians might not be an achievable goal, that doesn’t mean voters shouldn’t strive for it. As a proverb goes, those who don’t aim for the sun will never rise above their current station.

Some readers might say that what I’ve written above is obvious and that I’ve wasted my time. I would agree that what I’ve written is completely obvious. Holding politicians accountable for their ideas and their actions is the foundation of any free nation, without which liberty would perish. But, for some reason, ideologically vacant and congenitally unprincipled lawmakers return to Washington year after year. Apparently, the concept of holding one’s leaders accountable for anything other than personality is alien to at least some Americans. That needs to change if America is to have a decent government. Nothing which highlights that fact is a waste of time.