This separation is caused by a lack of understanding of the average American. Our population is pretty evenly split with about 50% men and 50% women. Our Senate and House are about 20% women, not matching the population. We also fail to represent the growing number of Hispanics with about 3% in both branches, and about 15% of the overall population.
There is also a major separation in income. The average American makes about about 51,000 a year. The average congressman is part of the 1% who earns about 7.5 times the median income.
Our one percenters are also about to save more, with average holdings of more 69% more then the average. Your income and savings have a lot of influence over your issues. Having a stable income allows you invest and have financial safety. A growing number of Americans are missing out on this. The inflation rate and minim wage have not increased at the same rate. This means these people don’t make enough to live off, but it benefits businesses bottom dollar to pay employees less. To them and our congressmen capitalism is working. As they gain more wealth and leaser time it is easy to over look the little guy who doesn’t count as part of your election party.
If our congress does not accurately represent the people it can create un-obvious biases and lack of understanding of cultural issues. The wealth gap will continue to increase as long as big business can throw large dollars towards campaign funding. This is creating and underlining tie between congress and corporations, this tie can influence legislation. If you want that big campaign contribution from a poultry company, and you enact laws regulating them, you probably wont get that funding. This issue crosses party lines and goes to who’s lining the congressman’s campaign pockets. Campaign contributions are less regulated now and have been under great criticism for this, but nothing has been done.
Our re-election process is a big fail. It puts focus on funding for increasingly more expensive campaigns and not on holding our representatives accountable. If we could change the election funding process or put a cap on campaign spending it would be a step in the right direction. Right now our congress is not able to focus on what they are in office to do but rather on staying in office. This is far from what we want our legislators to be worried about. I want our congressman and women to worry about the people not making enough to feed them selves, the growing student debts, as well our countries own debts, and less on financial contributions.
In an article written by Rebecca Fikac on October 31, 2014, she discussed the unequal representation that some deem to be "plaguing" the House and Senate. I commend her for her efforts in defending the principles of equal representation in the legislative branch, however, to base legislator value solely off of demographic alignment to that of the general public seems to me a grave misstep. The most essential element for a legislator is not that their skin tone and personal history perfectly match the general public, but that they petition and advocate for causes in line with a societies interests and needs. Truly, the basis of legislator worth is not in demographics but in whether they are acting as trustees or delegates to the people. Such actions require neither race, sex, history, nor wealth to fulfill but are met through the basic act of listening to the people and creating laws in-line with interests and goals of those they are representing.
ReplyDeleteSuch notions of choosing legislators to meet a demographic quota seems to me a regression into former times of racial ignorance and discrimination. Legislator credibility should be built solely off of their personal eligibility and standards of moral conduct to qualify them for such a position. In the words of Martin Luther King, "I have a dream that my four little children will on one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character."
For the sake of painting a picture, imagine a hypothetical world in which we coincide with these racially-based propositions, in turn, flooding the House and Senate with a rainbow of colors. The legislature becomes a perfected demographic representation, and down to the 'nth degree reflects equal representation for American citizens. According to Ms. Fikac, such a hypothetical universe as this would be the ideal scenario, elevating the opinions of all races and sects of individual. Yet, if these individuals just ushered in as legislators are not moral and representing fundamental truths that apply to members of the United States, how can they successfully represent the people? Is race enough alone? Truly, it is not the outer man that should bears any weight on legislative merit, but the inner principles and truths that should have weight in our congressmen and women. The real issue is in whether an individual has a heartbeat for this Country and its principles, or if they are blind trustees expecting us to accredit to them trust, when they walk in their ignorant, self-based understanding. What we need is individuals with the mental capacities to make appropriate decisions, but in tune with the people so as to encourage policies in our best interest. Let's target the monster under our bed, not pull it into the covers with us.