I was wondering why so many of our elected officials, at the local, state and federal levels, seem to forget where they came from so quickly, seem to move from the positions they occupied during their campaigns, seem quite too often and too quickly to say something quite different from what they said before. I wondered but it was sort of a rhetorical musing.
Does absolute power mess people up absolutely?
How the heck does a local school board member acquire absolute power? How much water is required to fill up the container until it overflows? And why don’t they seem to notice when their feet wind up getting wet?
Someday I plan to investigate the federal monster known as the Bureaucracy- some refer to this as the Administrative State which implies it is put into place and tailored by each succeeding administration but I think it survives each mostly intact, only larger and more sinister- but I’m not sure that I have the courage to look in the darkened dungeon. I tend to be scared of scary places. For now let’s just focus on the elected folks who we are still, in the end I suppose, responsible for putting into place.
But are we really?
Oh sure we may wind up electing them, assuming that is the candidate we actually voted for, but once they win do they occupy a place of our choosing? Once we have an elected official, some call him or her a representative, does he or she not then represent all of us, all of the electorate, in carrying out the responsibilities of the particular office? If he or she are of a different party how soon are we forgotten or ignored? If we happen to be in the same party and have an opinion or position that differs with the elected person representing us do we matter that much longer? How much money do we have to control, how many votes do we have to bring before we really matter?
Someone told me once that the folks we elect actually work for us. Really, that’s what I was told. I think that is maybe where the word representative came from a long time ago.
Q: “Why don’t you do as you said you would?”
R: “You don’t understand, I have to go along to get along before I can get anything done like that.”
Q: “But you voted on other things that we didn’t really care about, things we didn’t send you there to pursue. Why?”
R: “Because it’s important.”
Q: “To whom?”
R: “Look you don’t understand but it’s not really your fault- a lot of folks back home don’t either.”
Q: “What don’t I understand? What don’t we understand?”
R: “It’s hard to explain so that you can understand.”
Q: “Huh?”
R: “Look, I can’t just show up and buck the system, I can’t just rock the boat, I can’t just swim upstream, I can’t just go against the grain, “I can’t-“
Q: “Ok, ok I got it. But why not?”
R: “If I could even explain it you wouldn’t understand but you should realize that there are people there, powerful people who want things a certain way and they are going to get it no matter what.”
Q: “Then why go there, why run for the office?”
R: “To make a difference. But it takes time, you don’t understand. These people-“
Q: “The powerful ones?”
R: “Yes, them, they-“
Q: “Are they corrupt as well? Are they honest?”
R: “Well, yes and no- or maybe it’s no and yes- it’s just so hard to explain. You shouldn’t really worry about it, that’s my job.”
Q: “But we sent you there assuming you would do a job that you’re not really doing.”
R: “I need to go along first, just to get along. And then I-“
Q: “Become a team player?”
A: “Exactly.”