According to a recent CNN poll,
approval ratings for congress have plummeted down to near all-time lows. This
study showed that only 10% of people polled said they approve of the job that
congress is doing. This number is down 10 points from the beginning of the
month. This shows a very noticeable public reaction to the current stalemate
over budget negotiations. This approval number is astonishing, and shows a huge
disconnect and problem in our current political system. A nation cannot
function properly when only 1 in 10 citizens feel that the people they voted
into office actually support their interests and are properly working towards
them.
In my opinion, our representative
democracy has become fundamentally flawed. It’s obvious that elected officials
do not put their constituent’s interests as a first priority. In elections we
have the decision to either elect a Democrat or a Republican and neither choice
seems to have any real obligation towards those that elected them. This strict
2 party system that we have in place leads most voters to feel that they have
no real voice in government. I think that a proportional voting system would be
able to rectify this situation. It would allow people to elect groups that
represent their views more specifically. In addition to that it would break the
current stalemate between the 2 parties that we have in place. But
unfortunately this simply isn't going to happen and so we’re stuck with an
unhappy populace and a congress that can’t function properly.
I agree with you that the government is putting the constituent's interests as a low priority.The government's main priority is to listen to the people as it is stated in the Constitution, "We the People". I think the only way to resolve the stalemate is for the Republicans and the Democrats to get off their high horse and compromise. I think that one solution is for the "People" to demand term limits for Senators so they concentrate on the People's business for 8 years and get out. Too many Senators stay in office for life and their main concern becomes getting re-elected.
ReplyDeleteI agree in the fact that the government is putting their interests ahead of their constituents. Politicians are called politicians rather than leaders for a reason. They seem to forget that we elected them as representatives and not for themselves. However, we can't complain and not do anything about it. If we want change, we lobby to those in office and remind them that we elected them and if they don't do what we want then we won't reelect them. We can't sit around and complain if we're not going to stand up for ourselves. It can be done too. If I want something done I go to Capitol Hill or the capitol in Pennsylvania and talk to those who are supposed to represent me. Now I understand that not everyone has the ability to go to Capitol Hill on any given day, but you can email people in their offices. If we want change within our politicians we have to put forth the effort and tell them to start doing their job. Bottom line, we need to hold them accountable.
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