Nation’s voting mandate not reflected
If you take a map and place a compass point on Washington, D.C., then draw a circle around all of Mar yland and most areas in Northern Virginia, you will realize this encircled area, as tallied in the 2010 census, is where fewer than 10 million citizens claimed residency. We all know the area we live in is mainly influenced by the federal government. In the 2010 census, there were more than 308 million people living in the U.S., which meant around 97 percent of the voting public did not live inside the District’s sphere of power.
In many ways, elected public servants working for us have discounted their obligated vows as mandated by our votes. Our country has become awash with many angry voters who are tired of the betrayal perpetrated by legislators who have drawn the wrath of their constituents. Folks, you only have to check back to many of the candidates’ own personal political platforms to realize that once they arrived in Washington, they forgot to honor their own voters whom they promised to serve.
We were perplexed by either the betrayal of the Republicans or the failures of the Democrats. Public servants should ensure the laws written are enforced in the way they were intended. Anything less should be viewed as an abdication of the promised fidelity to the platform and laws they vowed to follow.
In some cases, the angry electorate has fought back, and in 2014, Republican Eric Cantor, the House majority leader from Virginia, lost the Republican primary to David Brat, a virtual unknown. Most Republican legislators who came to Congress caved in on their vowed principles — and the Democrats, promising more social change, allowed current laws to be ineffective in a way that has made the lives of many needy citizens worse.
In the 2016 primary season, the result of this abdication of duties resulted in a backlash where there were two candidates for president who are considered outcasts by the establishment: Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Donald Trump. People are tired of the same old, unfaithful rhetoric espoused by these socalled in-crowd Democrats and Republicans who fail to deliver on many of the outcomes they promised.
Folks, we have to demand this system will again work for all the people. When voting, please rule out false promises and demand results. An individual’s vote should always count and public servants who do not represent the electorate as promised should then be kicked out of office. After all, we are the people.