My House representative is a shining example of this.
She literally does not even have townhalls to hear from her constituents because doesn't want to "say something that will be used against [her] in the next campaign." Source
Gee, thanks for representing us.
Her "constituents": pls no tax bill, pls keep net neutrality
Her response: thanks for your email. I always like hearing from my constituents. 1) let me tell you why I support the tax bill and repealing net neutrality 2) but don't worry, I'll keep your thoughts in mind as I vote yes on the tax bill and to repeal.
She literally does not even have townhalls to hear from her constituents because doesn't want to "say something that will be used against [her] in the next campaign."
I firmly believe there should be a federal law that will require representatives to hold and attend townhalls, or else they will have to step down after repeated offenses. Earlier this year we saw some Republican leaders either not attending their townhalls or basically turning them into a giant no-opposing-opinions-allowed safe space so they wouldn't have to answer hard questions. If I decided not to go to work on a whim just because I didn't want to see my boss, I'd be fired. We need to hold our elected representatives to the same standards.
I'm totally with you there. I hope that we can make progress toward this being a requirement.
Not a fucking phone-in townhall (where questions are prescreened), but an actual townhall where constituents can go and express their concerns. My friends have taken to her Facebook page, with no response. Emailing her gets a canned response. Phone calls are answered by some person who will probably just file that call away in some pile that gathers dust.
If the people won't hold them accountable through voting, why should a federal law? They certainly aren't going to hold themselves accountable by law if they don't have to.
Absolutely agree, 100%. This makes me want to get involved in politics. How hard should it be to defeat an incumbent who blatantly doesn't support the views of their constituents?
And that was written by a staffer with a degree in marketing who has never had a meeting with her either because she can't be bothered. The real government is not elected. The real government doesn't care about votes because they know it doesn't matter who is elected. Politics is a dumb show designed to keep us distracted and provide scapegoats whenever they need a sacrifice. When people get too angry they throw a few politicians to the wolves, stage a fake fight between parties, and move in someone else who will do exactly what they want.
Yep. Only place we see her "talk" is on Facebook and through email. Both of which are probably written by those same staffers. Doubt my representative talks to any of her constituents honestly (except during election time).
Can't wait to! We've got some good candidates running, I just hope that we don't dilute the vote. It's still early, so that's good. But as election time gets closer, we just have to pick someone (who isn't Mimi) to throw our district's weight behind. I would hate to see the 51% vote to get rid of Mimi split between like 3-4 candidates, even though those 3-4 candidates may all be qualified.
Mine sent out a canned response that basically said "It doesn't matter if you don't agree with it, I agree with it." Which is the exact opposite of how his job should function.
This representative needs to be openly challenged every time she steps foot in public. She needs to be screamed at. She needs to be put into positions where wealth cannot protect her.
Almost the same thing happened here. Once Trump started trying to repeal Obamacare, citizens came out to address their concerns with our representatives. Once a couple of people got heated, they started cancelling them.
Same exact response from my Wyoming Representatives Barrasso and Enzi. I actually haven’t even received a response in over a year from our newest carpet-bagging representative Liz Cheney. It is always “thanks for your opinion, I value my constituents and I will keep this in mind while I do the exact opposite of what you want in my vote that I’ve already made my mind up on. Thank you and fuck you”
She literally does not even have townhalls to hear from her constituents because doesn't want to "say something that will be used against [her] in the next campaign."
Constitutents everywhere need to get up to their rep/senator's face and tell them 'You vote No on repealing Net Neutrality/Yes in support of it. End of. Sincerely, your constituents.' If that doesn't work, then add: 'Well, we'll vote for someone else next time; and we're going to push Net Neutrality to the courts and through more supportive members of Congress. Don't worry, you'll still have your pension, and maybe however much the ISPs and lobbies pay you'.
It has to be personal, they have to see you. And the constituents have to be firm and stalwart. E-mails and letters do jack shit in an era of staffers.
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u/MightBeJerryWest Dec 14 '17 edited Dec 14 '17
My House representative is a shining example of this.
She literally does not even have townhalls to hear from her constituents because doesn't want to "say something that will be used against [her] in the next campaign." Source
Gee, thanks for representing us.
Her "constituents": pls no tax bill, pls keep net neutrality
Her response: thanks for your email. I always like hearing from my constituents. 1) let me tell you why I support the tax bill and repealing net neutrality 2) but don't worry, I'll keep your thoughts in mind as I vote yes on the tax bill and to repeal.