This is the letter I will be sending to my ‘representative’ in the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Warren Davidson, later today …
Dear Mr. Davidson,
I would like to take a few moments to let you know why you do not represent me. Yes, I realize you won the election fair and square, but you still do not represent me. Why? Because your values and mine appear to be 180° apart, because you do not make legislative decisions that are in the best interest of the people of this nation, or even the people of your district.
Here are the things I consider to be most important for this country, that I think should be top priorities in the House of Representatives:
- Equality. Women should have the same rights as men to make their own medical decisions, to be treated as equals in the workplace, and not to be dominated by men. LGBTQ people deserve the exact same rights as straight people. Black people, Hispanics, and Asians all deserve the same rights and privileges as white people. And atheists, Muslims, Hindus, and Jews all deserve the exact same civil and human rights as Christians. There should be no differences. These are the rights that need to be codified into law and the law enforced rigidly.
- Guns. I do not believe that guns belong in the hands of civilians, period. It is a Pandora’s Box. That said, I realize I’m fighting a losing battle, but I am a student of Constitutional Law and I can tell you that there is nothing in the 2nd Amendment that guarantees the right of every man, woman and child in the U.S. to own an AR-15 assault weapon. A Congress with a conscience would be working diligently to pass a permanent and irrevocable assault weapon ban. Do you realize that in Cincinnati there were 29 shootings in just 10 days?
- Voting rights. Every person age 18 or older in this country should have access to the ballot. Gerrymandering and voter restriction laws like the one recently passed in Ohio deprive people, typically poor people, minorities, and young people, of their constitutional right. Last year, Congress had the opportunity to pass two very important voting rights laws that would have overridden any restrictive state laws, and you fell down on the job. Reinstate those bills and this time pass them!
- Economic. I do not view money as the most important consideration, but that said, I realize that it is necessary for life. Every working person deserves a livable income, and $7.25 per hour (or less in the cases of tipped employees) does not constitute a living wage! The federal minimum wage has been stagnant since 2009, despite a significant rise in the cost of living during that time. Why? Because Congress is more interested in helping the wealthy 1% than the rest of us. I see no reason whatsoever for anybody to have millions or billions of dollars sitting around in investment accounts while people are struggling, some putting their children to bed hungry at night or living in cardboard boxes on the streets.
Certainly there are other important priorities such as education, healthcare, the environment, the war in Ukraine, etc., but the ones I listed are, in my book, the highest priorities that Congress should be focusing on instead of revenge investigations and petty bickering that will accomplish nothing. I believe that if you sat down, one-to-one, with everyone in your district and asked them to talk about these priorities, you would find that at least 85% of them would be in agreement with me. But are you? Based on your actions, your votes, and your weekly newsletters, I would say that you and I do not share the same set of values and concerns, and therefore I must conclude that you do not represent me or the majority of people, and you seem to have no desire to do so.
Thank you for taking the time to listen. A response will be welcomed.
Sincerely,
Jill Dennison — citizen, voter, taxpayer
I’ll let you all know when/if I receive a response. I usually do get one, but it’s typically a canned response written by an aide, or perhaps even by AI!
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Good letter.!
IMO, the core problem revolves around (the usual) … $$$$$. So long as the wealthy among us “contribute” to politicians and causes that THEY want put into place, the rest of us are the same as non-existent. And regrettably, in today’s world, “the people” cannot even speak through the ballot because of the very points you made about gerrymandering. Although always present to some degree, I feel if the current state of “politics” continue as is, this U.S. of A. is going to be run right straight into the ground.
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You’re right, Nan. And as long as a large portion of the public chooses to remain willfully ignorant, to follow the most entertaining voices, the loudest ones, and the ones that tell them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear, the moneyed interests will continue to dominate. I was surprised and pleased by the decision of the Supreme Court today in the Alabama gerrymandering case, so perhaps there is some hope … if it’s not a case of too little, too late.
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Jill, thanks for reaching out. Encourage others in your district to do the same. If he is like Jim Jordan, he will route all non-district phone calls and emails to the trash bin. So, Jordan and others can degrade our entire country with his modus operandi, but only wants to hear from his district. Keith
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I didn’t realize they tossed communications from those who live outside their district! Sadly, apart from a few neighbors, I don’t know that many people here in my district. I thought about sending the letter to the Enquirer’s “Letters to the Editor”, but it’s far too long and to shorten it would be to lose its strength, I think. Well, I’ll do as much as I can!
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Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News.
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Thank you, Ned!!!
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Unfortunately, due to how, majority rules, even if the officials, don’t, represent our, values, they still, get into office, because the majority of those who voted, had, voted these, officials, whose ideals are, too, far apart from, ours, and, that, I believe, is the problem with, democracy. It’s a, total, fallacy, believing that those who get voted inyo office, will, really, represent, us.
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Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…Winston Churchill
I offer this as a possible solution to the problem you point out:
https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/fair-representation-act/
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That’s just it, because, there’s, no, “perfect form” of government, yet, people everywhere in this world’s countries, are, trying to find, the forms of government that works for the varied cultures, and, if only, we don’t, enforce what we believe is, perfect on others, which is what works for the, individual, countries we are, living in,then, the world would be, at peace, but, unfortunately, we, are too, subjective, and, that’s just, not good for the world,as a, whole.
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I like that! I’m going to look into it more, but I like the premise and have long been a fan of ranked choice voting and thought multi-member districts made sense. Thanks for sending me that link!
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You’re welcome!
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Sadly, an uneducated population who is easily convinced that the wealth of a few will trickle down to themselves, is also part of the problem. We really need to work harder at educating the populace, but instead we’re banning books and history!!! Sheesh!
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