It’s My Vote and I’ll Do What I Want

posted at 11:51 am on August 21, 2009 by
[ Congress ]    printer-friendly

In representative government, people elected to public office carry out the will of the voters, right? Not necessarily. Sometimes, in rare instances, an elected official will presume to know better.

Such a politician is Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), who said at the Netroots Nation Convention (formerly Yearly Kos) this past weekend, “I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful.”

Massa’s district, in upstate New York, tends generally to vote Republican. He won his seat in 2008 by a margin of 4,000 votes, or 51% to 49%. I suppose he should be admired for his bravery or perhaps condemned for his stupidity. Barack Obama, who was elected by a wider margin than Massa’s, has already begun to backtrack on H.R. 3200 in it’s current form. It will be interesting to see whether Massa stands his ground or ends up eating crow, either of which is likely to unseat him in 2010.

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Then don’t pay NY taxes.

No taxation without representation.

Daggett on August 21, 2009 at 12:09 PM

Representatives represent their voters, whether their voters are right or wrong. There should be conditions in place which allow for immediate removal of representatives if they admit they will refuse to carry out their primary duty.

MadisonConservative on August 21, 2009 at 12:10 PM

We need something along the lines of no-confidence status, so that a state can call for a special election when the state has lost confidence in its Congressmen. That would have been easier under the old rules of “electing” representatives, though.

Yeah, I know, when hell freezes over.

Daggett on August 21, 2009 at 12:22 PM

I saw him on FOX explaining himself. He said what he meant was he would do what was right, not what was politically expedient. He claimed to have read the 3200 bill and did not agree with it at all. He said it had to be budget neutral and have others qualifiers.

He’s apparently former military? Maybe what he said and what was thought he meant are two different things.

Or, then again, he could just be lying like Obama.

archer52 on August 22, 2009 at 12:58 AM