Here’s a little story about what legislators and people willing to serve have been facing for decades. The problem is only growing worse.
Hardly Settled in House, but Already in Hot Seat by Jennifer Steinhauer NYT, March 27, 2011
Representative Bobby Schilling has left his wife and 10 children and his Moline, Illinois, family pizza business to join Congress. He defeated a two-term Democrat, Phil Hare, with 53 percent of the vote, becoming the first Republican to represent this district in the House in nearly three decades.
· Already, just a few months into his term, Schilling is under heavy fire from all sides.
· Many of his constituents are angry because he voted against federal money for a local rail project.
· Democrats have run radio ads and made automated calls accusing him of supporting a “partisan plan” to raid public education funds. The Democratic National Party is taking aim at 14 freshmen Republicans in the House, of 87 elected, whom it deems the most vulnerable. Schilling is one of the 14.
· Meanwhile, the Tea Party is watching closely. “We supported him,” said an activist from Moline. “We watch these guys, we monitor them, and if they don’t fulfill what they said they’re going to do, well ... ” The radicals hold the omnipresent threat of someone more to the right waiting in the primary wings.
It’s the same for Democrats who are serving in Red or Purple districts – as we saw in November.
No one I know would vote for a legislator that received either a zero or a “100” from any of the loonies that rate legislators. Never the less, more and more, the people active in political parties have total control of the persons presented to us in elections and demand absolute lock step to every aspect of their agenda regardless of merit.
Support people you like but never ever give a dime to a political party or an advocate. Vote and vote in the primaries. Work for open primaries.
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