Government From The Bottom Up

Who comes up the ideas for laws, for example health care, Stimulus or TARP of 2008? When citizens want something from government, they ask, Right? You would think so, but almost never do citizens organize and march to their congressmen’s offices saying things like we are suffering because our health care is inadequate. Please Mr. Congressman write a law that will help us and try get your colleagues to pass it. Wouldn't it be great if ideas for laws started that way?

What really happens is wealthy campaign contributors convince the congress introduce laws that help them at the expense of everyone else. This is how the idea for the proposed new health care law came about. Ideas for new laws start with the financially elite. Lawmakers write laws according to the wishes of wealthy campaign contributors. The proposed new law is then from the top down. Senators and Congressmen sell the law down to their constituents. When their constituents object and say they do not want the law, enough congressmen bow to their party leadership and vote yes, right past the objections of those who put them in office,

The country is being governed from the top down. One result is that the democratic process is being used as a means of transferring wealth from regular working people to an elite group that has the time and money to convince lawmakers to pass laws tailor made to their liking. 5 percent of the population now receives in excess of 21 % of all income in the country. Historically this number has been around 16%. If this uneven income distribution were the result of skill or even personal savvy in the market place, there would be no cause for concern. The free market rewards talent. But, the new uneven income distribution is in fact a result of the financially elite using the democratic process to circumvent the free market.

Income distribution has become grossly skewed in favor of the financial elite at the same time government spending has become a greater part of Gross Domestic Product. Clearly the biggest beneficiaries of big government are those with the financial means to cause government policy. Government is being used dishonestly as a means to transfer wealth from the poor and middle class to selfish interests with the power and wealth to control government.

So, what is a person to do? You still have a right to insist that your congressman vote according to the consensus in his district. People in the district must decide how the congressman votes. The consensus of constituents must trump a congressman’s feeling of paternalism, personal agenda as well as orders from his party’s leadership. Remove congressmen who refuse to govern from the bottom up.