We give elected officials millions of dollars to hire staff to support them to do the best possible job for the voter.
I get Lot’s of people sending me e-mail copies of responses to issues where they wrote their senator or congressman with a concern. These responses are indicative of the arrogance of our elected officials and how they choose to spend those millions of staff dollars.
In every case it’s a form letter. My guess is that long-term house and senate electees haven’t read a letter from a constituent in years. Their staff opens them and decides which form letter to use for the response. Yet, everyone says write your congressman.
The voters in Massachusetts wrote their Democratic candidate for senator this week. It’s the only message they will read personally.
When I was a marketing v.p. at a major corporation it was my practice to walk through the customer service area and pick up a dozen or more letters in random off several desks and read them. I needed to know what we were doing that was serious enough to cause a customer to take the time to write. Do you believe there is even one elected official in Washington today who takes time to do that? Their job is to work for you and me. They don’t see it that way.
They think they work first for them. Getting enough wealth to keep them in their golden years is job one. Most retire wealthy even though they are paid modestly. How does that happen? Denny Hastert, the former speaker of the house is worth $5-10 million and never made over $150,000 a year, kept two houses, and educated two kids.
They work second for those who are going to pave the way for their asset appreciation. Those buying their votes. Inside deals and campaign money.
They work third for the party. That’s obvious since the Democrats are reeling off the cliff still supporting Obama and lost causes.
Brown won in Massachusetts, in my judgment, because he kept the Republican Party out of the state. Except for Mitt Romney, he didn’t have Palin or any others there stumping for him. He kept the name Republican out of all campaign materials. He spent the money the party sent him for telling the people what he would do, not ads smearing Coakley. Things like casting the vote to stop health care reform, cutting taxes, being against the popular proposed bank tax, and interrogating the hell out of any terrorist we catch. His promises were easy to understand, not weasel-worded like those of Obama. Now, we see if he keeps those promises to those who put him in office.
Want to see how far out of touch your congressman or senator is? Write a letter requesting specifics on some issue, like health care reform, cap and trade, or card check. See what you get back.
Some third level clerk, unionized and highly paid, will open your letter, select response #466, stamp it with the bosses’ signature stamp and toss it in the mail. That clerk will handle hundreds of letter this week, all the same way. Want to get a direct response? Send a copy of a letter you wrote to the local newspaper or TV station saying you are sick and tired of the form letters from that politician. The clerk will run this up the flagpole to see how far it should go to make sure it’s diffused. You don’t count, but if your complaint gets published it hurts. Got to get to you before you send more. Americans are getting weary of this kind of arrogance. It’s growing daily.
