When Enough is Enough

At recent events I've had people come up to me and express their frustration with their elected representatives. They often speak out of regret for having voted for this official or that. They ask me what they can do about this. Often I am perplexed as I try to find an answer to their dilemma.

I often think of life as a system of trade-offs. You may decide to buy the car with a larger engine because of the feel of the acceleration yet you accept the trade-off of getting fewer miles to the gallon. You may decide to send your child to a certain private college in spite of the costs to you as a parent. That decision may prevent you from taking a vacation overseas, or buying that V8 Mustang, or going to see Springsteen as many times as you can in as many cities possible but you make that choice because the trade-off is more important to you and more in line with your values.

The same could be said of the choices we make when voting for our elected officials. Some may view the fiscal or economic issues as being more critical and thus may be willing to overlook the drawbacks or cons that come with a certain candidate. On the other hand, some may consider social issues such as gay rights, abortion, the war on drugs, etc. to be of more importance that any fiscal or economic issues.

What I would propose is we get back to what is the foundation of our Republic, our Constitution. If we ever need to consider whether or not to support an incumbent in their bid for re-election I suggest we look at their voting record. If, at any time whatsoever, they have voted in support of legislation which violates our constitution then they have violated the oath the swore when they took office and should not be re-elected.

If the candidate has not served in office, then perhaps we should evaluate their positions to see if they, in any way, violate and infringe on the Constitution then they should not receive a single vote.

There it is. Our decision may not be easy, but it is simple. If we as the people of this great Republic ever want to reclaim this land back from the Republicans and Democrats we must hold them accountable to the Constitution. At the end of the day, it is all we have left that preserves our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (or property, as it was originally written and is in the way I prefer).