July
15, 2012
Why
I support voting out incumbents
If
you have read many of my articles, you know that my consistent
general theme has been that in order for voters to help solve our
nations many problems we need to unite in firing all incumbent
federally elected officials beginning with the coming fall elections.
Most American voters are angered and frustrated by our lawmakers
overall performance, but some then argue that some are OK and should
be saved. This article is written to better explain why I feel so
strongly about supporting this drastic action.
Over
the past couple of years, many, many readers have sent me their very
well developed ideas that, if implemented, would likely solve most of
our challenges. Many said, in effect, that we didn't need to fire
everyone...we just need to convince our elected to do these things.
Since our representatives have failed miserably to respond to our
anger, how do we get that accomplished? I am a pragmatic and
practical business person. I spent over thirty eight years in the
private sector working in five different industries, during which I
held over 20 different management roles in just about every business
function you can think of. I was repeatedly told by my bosses that I
was valued because I was very good at solving problems.
I
was trained to evaluate negative results by identifying their primary
underlying causes, and when the most important causal factor was
identified, to then determine the most effective options to remove or
modify that cause. It was while evaluating our nation's problems with
this approach that I had my personal "Ah Ha!" moment. It
became clear to me that most of us see all the laws and regulations
that need to be changed. We simply lack the willingness and effective
leadership to implement them. Our two political parties remain
locked in a desperate struggle to retain as much power as possible,
and the vast majority of our elected politicians from both parties
are more interested in staying in power than risking the needed
collaborative actions necessary to pass the laws and regulations so
desperately required. The parties and their politicians have learned
from long experience that we will re-elect them over 90% of the time
anyway, and that they must fear the lobbies more than the voters.
It
dawned on me that we voters only have one single effective tool at
our disposal and that is the ballot. We the people cannot pass a
single law or regulation...that is solely in the control of our
elected representatives.
That
led me to my conclusion that as long as we are no real threat to
their power, why would we expect them to pay any attention to our
complaints...or even bother to listen to our suggestions or ideas.
The fact is that they, quite accurately I might add, only fear the
monied special interests who fund their campaigns...because these
folks will withhold funding at the first sign that a politician
isn't following their orders. Where does that leave we the people?
I'm afraid it leaves us to either continue the frustrating and
non-productive game we have been playing of just blaming all those in
the other party...or to stand up and take the necessary actions to
send a strong signal to all future candidates and current office
holders that we can and will fire them...by doing just that! Those
we elect to represent our collective best interests would suddenly
realize that we the voters can and will fire them if they fail to act
accordingly. After this process has begun the metrics that we should
use in the future to measure our lawmaker's performance will be
fairly easy to create and help guide our future election decisions.
For those who could never imagine voting for a candidate in the
opposite party...just vote out your party's incumbent in a primary.
I
know that this likely seems too simple and unrealistic and many will
suggest that we will just be sending new crooks to Washington. I do
not believe that most of our politicians intend to behave like
crooks. It is the system they are forced to work within that is
corrupt, and that corruption is created by the powerful special
interests and the political parties themselves. It seems pretty clear
that the folks we have been re-electing for term after term from
either party do effectively say the words supporting their followers
personal values...but they have clearly not delivered the goods for a
very long time and I don't think they can or will change their
behavior without our help.
Clearly
we will risk losing a few good and decent people currently in office.
However, being nice or good but ineffective should still get you
fired! By signaling with our ballot that we can and will take action
to replace incumbents is what will force the rest to be reminded that
they serve at our pleasure...not just that of the special interests.
Frankly I don't think it would take more than one or two waves of
firings before the survivors would get the message. For the faint of
heart, please stand aside. Our nation is in a war for it's very
survival. Politics as usual, either for politicians or voters, is
clearly no longer an acceptable alternative.
These
are my opinions. What do you think?
Mike
Tower
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