The Issues, No. 3 - The Role of Votes

In order to win elections to first get into a political office and then to remain in office for additional terms, our politicians have to obtain more votes than their competitors. In its simplest form, the person who gets the most votes is the one the voters believe will do the best job for them. However, there is a downside to this.

In an election contest, one candidate says he wants to lower taxes and increase funding for the public schools. The other candidate says he wants to increase funding for the public schools but in order to do it, he will propose an increase in taxes to provide the needed funding. So, who would you vote for? Most people would vote for the guy who wants to lower taxes. The guy who said he would propose an increase in taxes hasn't got a chance even though he may be right in that the only way to pay for the increase in funding for the schools, without increasing the public debt, is to increase taxes. This scenario is typical of what goes on in Congress today.

Our country is in serious debt. One of the major reasons is that most members of Congress would prefer to increase government services without increasing (and maybe even lowering) taxes and, instead, borrow to pay for the increased services. The reason they don't raise taxes is because, if they did, their constituents may not vote for them in thier next re-election effort. Borrowing doesn't adversely affect their constituents, at least in the present; their constituents don't care or aren't concerned about the debt increasing; and they just continue happily along putting the country deeper and deeper into debt. Of course, another problem associated with votes, is that Congress does not tackle any controversial issues such as universal health care or salvaging the Social Security System. The reason is that they may be forced to take a position that may cost them votes.

So, what's the solution? We could try to educate the public but most of the public doesn't care. We could attempt to amend the Constitution to limit terms in Congress to one term so that once elected, Congressmen and Senators might do what they think is best for the country rather than for their political futures. Or, maybe we could do both. The American Dream Machine is an attempt to educate, but the media, our schools, and even members of Congress could do much more to educate the American people about the Constitution, our government, and the consequences of Congressional actions. And, tomorrow we will address term limits.