Just A Reminder- ALL Politicians Are There To Serve THE PEOPLE

[Panaconda]

Not a single one of these people in the House, Senate or holding any other office in political life should be held in any higher esteem than we would hold the local teacher or grocery clerk. We could joke about the fact that perhaps they should all be considered with much less esteem and while that may be true that's not what I'm getting at.

There seems to be a disturbing trend in all corners of the American political landscape for it's citizens to lionize many of their elected officials, particularly those who hold office on the national level.

No matter how "progressive" or "liberal" ANY of these people may appear to be, or may actually be, is beside the point. The fact is that they are put in office, theoretically, TO SERVE the people and any acts that may seem to stand out are really nothing that should be considered out of the ordinary.

Not one of these politicians should be lionized, canonized or revered in any way shape or form. Applaud them briefly for their good deeds, when and if they do it, and quickly move on.

It's the people who matter.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. And indeed they DO serve the people.

Provided you define "people" as featherless bipeds with incomes over 10 million per year.

[Donnachaidh]

2. THANK YOU!

It's mindboggling that people revere any politician. Hell, Senators seem to think they are the equivalent of the House of Lords -- however, the house of lords doesn't have to be voted in every 6 years.

Washington needs a deep-seated reality check as to who THEIR bosses are.

[leftstreet]

3. But,. but, they're American Royalty!

Surely you're not suggesting they're just like us!!!111

:cry:

K&R

[maryf]

4. Amen.

and K&R

[ixion]

5. Politics should be like jury duty...

something people do to fulfill their civic duty, but not something they can:

a) make a career out of;

b) make money or derive power from.

[Angry Dragon]

6. I have always looked at them as employees

In this same frame of thought, when they run for office they are asking to be
hired as an employee. So when they refuse to answer questions on their past
I feel that if anyone went into a job interview and did that we would not be hired.

When they lie to get hired and it is found out then they should be fired on the spot as
anyone else would be.

[stray cat]

7. And some of those people are tea par tiers, racists, millionaires, and republicans

[Panaconda]

8. Factually correct

and many of those that you allude to would idolize such cretins as Ronnie Raygun.

Again, the point is the Politician should NEVER be revered. He/She is the servant to The People.

Of course that's just theory right?

[ThomCat]

9. So few politicians actually serve the people in any significant

or consistant basis that it's hard not to be thrilled when the few who are progressive give us a real glimpse of what "serving the people" is supposed to look like.

You're right though, it's not supposed to be about idolizing the person. It's supposed to be about what they do, and what they've done to help all of us. It's supposed to be about the issues, not about the celebrity status of the politician.

Not even if that celebrity politician is the president.

It would be really nice we had politicians in our party who could be counted on to serve our interests instead of the interests of their big-money donors and their lobbyists. But it hasn't been that way in a long time.

It would be nice if we had more people in our party who held our politicians' feet to the fire on any issue, demanding results. But that hasn't been true in a long time either.

To hear the "loyalty choir," if we all just gave our undying love and affection, our votes, and otherwise just shut up and never criticized anything our politicians do, and of course if we were eternally patient too, and wait, and wait, and wait, eventually all good things would happen! Wow! Who knew? Just shut up and never criticize, but vote Democratic and give money!

Notice that no issues are ever mentioned in their equation for achieving success. If you mention issues, you are "being critical." You have "a pet issue." You want "a pony." Or, "vote Republican if you aren't happy." There are all these ways of belittling you. It's a lot of different ways of saying "you're not really a democrat."

When you boil it all down, what does it all mean?

There are no democratic issue anymore. Only democratic candidates. Our party will sell out anyone for either votes or money in a heartbeat to the highest bidder, no matter who the bidder is, no matter what the bidder represents, or what they want. Deal with it.

Our party no longer supports Unions or labor rights, or public education, or ending poverty, or consumer rights, or the environment, or choice, or civil rights, or any other issue. Some people in the party support any of these issues, or all of them. Our base might be able to sometimes pressure the party into temporarily backing some of these issues. But the party as a whole, and as an organization no longer supports these issue, and now often works AGAINST every one of these issues.

So as issues-Democrats our real role is to fight a battle against this change away from issues, towards enthroning celebrity politicians who have no accountability. Our real challenge is to keep fighting these "loyalty democrats" and the conservaDems who keep dragging our party to the right. It's a thankless battle because we know issues aren't valued, and neither are we. If we celebrate the occasional progressive democrat along the way because they actually listen to the base and serve the needs of people, well, I hope that can be forgiven.

[applegrove]

10. You are on to it. All people should be treated the same I would say.

[JoseGaspar]

11. More than that...

...they run as representatives of the people. Democracy means no more than that and even with that, often means less.

Do what you ran on or fuck you.

The idea of personalities running who claim the best "judgment", who act in the "general interest" of those who elected them, but feel free to "vote their conscience"... what a crock. Who gives a shit what you "personally" believe?

Easy, instant recall.

And for those who don't trust democracy enough to buy into that, I have a list of aging unemployed monarchs.