Elected representatives care about power, not service

 

Bill Knight column 6-17, 18 or 19, 2021

 This week 50 years ago, President Ricard Nixon launched a “War on Drugs,” an expensive, ineffective program to stop illegal drug use, but actually more of a scheme mostly intended to distract and divide Americans from popular movements against racism and the Viet Nam War.

This month, a poll from Bully Pulpit Interactive released by the ACLU and the Drug Policy Alliance shows that 83% say the War on Drugs has failed (including 83% of Democrats, 85% of  Independents and 82% of Republicans), with 66% of voters backing “eliminating criminal penalties for drug possession and reinvesting drug enforcement resources into treatment and addiction services” and 63% saying drug use should be addressed as a public-health issue.

That same year as Nixon’s declaration, 1971, the U.S. Senate used 20 filibusters to block votes on legislation. Last year, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell engineered 328 filibusters, according to Senate records. The comparison shows bipartisanship is now elusive, if not impossible, but also that elected representatives do what they want – even if it defies public opinion.

“I have lived my entire life trying to foster Civil Rights legislation, expansion of workers’ rights and to bring justice to immigrants,” said AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre, a labor organizer and Ethiopian refugee. “In all three areas, the filibuster has been used to thwart progress.”

A Gallup Poll found that 54% of Americans want political leaders in Washington to compromise to get things done. Nevertheless, Republicans’ 49 Senate seats and two centrist Democrats (Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona) ensure that just 41 senators – from states that, together, have 18% of the U.S. population, according to University of Pittsburgh professor Keisha Blain – can demand a “supermajority” of 60 to even vote on bills.

Consider what Americans prefer the federal government to do:

* A substantial majority of Americans support voting rights such as early voting at least two weeks before Election Day (78%) and automatic registration (61%), according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

* 55% hold a favorable view of labor unions (Pew).

However, elected representatives claim to know better than you (or expect constituents to believe “it’s for your own good” when it’s truly about them keeping campaign contributions flowing and ensuring they remain in power).

Need more examples?

* 66% back infrastructure improvements generally, and specifically, more support President Biden’s $2.3 million plan (52%) than the limited GOP plan (48%), says a poll from Politico/Morning Consult.

* 59% think some corporations and rich Americans don’t pay their fair share of taxes (Pew).

* There’s bipartisan support for paid family and medical leave (which unlike all other wealthy nations, doesn’t exist in this country except for what’s provided in union and other contracts (Pew) – and that includes 75% of all businesses and 85% of small businesses, according to a poll by Promundo.

* 84% support expending solar-energy complexes, and 77% back more wind farms (Pew).

 

Indeed, the chasm between what Americans want and what Congress will enact seems vast.

And revealing.

Do they really care what you want?

Or don’t you matter?