When the Founding Fathers organized the government model they were building they created the House of Representatives, "the people's house", and decided the members would serve two year terms and all run for re-election at the same time. Their objective was to create a situation that would force these Congressmen to closely adhere to the wishes of their constituents or face recall in two years. Until the first Tuesday in November 2010 the answer to the question: "how is that working for you?" would be "not very well"!
The system finally began to work! The American voters sent a very clear message. If you don't listen to us; if you put your party before your responsibility; if you let your arrogance and/or greed convince you your re-election supersedes your obligation to vote our wishes we will give you the "hook" and bring you home and they did. They recalled members with seniority and members who were elected in 2008.
The message should have been obvious yet in listening to the pundits and the party leaders today you are still hearing much of the same rhetoric we heard before. The Republicans claim they got the message that their agenda was the reason they won so many seats, the President claims those that lost did so because they did "the right thing" even though they knew they were risking their job(?). Apparently the voters perception of "the right thing" was different than those politicians who fell on their swords. In a government of the people, for the people, and by the people it would seem "the right thing" would be what the people really want not what the politicians think they want.
Over the last several years we have watched the arrogance grow in our elected politicians at all levels of government. They have refused to hold town meeting with their constituents, they rely on millions of dollars and the misconstrued power of seniority to keep a job never intended to be a career. Over 200 years ago our ancestors fought and died to free us from the arrogance of English royalty, we have to be careful of an ever growing ruling class under our very noses.
Hopefully, the first Tuesday in November 2010 was a step back in the direction of the government the Founders intended for us. We need to continue to send the message to our elected officials that they, in fact, work for us not a political party, moneyed special interest, or labor union. If they don't listen then on the first Tuesday of November 2012 we will have to bring more of them home.
