Remember when government was just an abstraction conveyed to us in a 30-minute episode of Schoolhouse Rock?
Then you grew up, went to college, started voting, got a job, started paying 4 or 5 different taxes, and found yourself undergoing a weekly barrage of news stories about the corruption of politicians all over the world, particularly in America?
For those of you who voted for Obama in your first presidential election:
Remember when you voted for a president who you thought would change the world, but then you found out that he wasn't really going to be able to do any of the things he promised, that he couldn't speak publicly without the help of a teleprompter, and that he still managed to win a Nobel Peace Prize for...what was it again? Not being George W. Bush?
Now, to be fair, I'm not here just to hate on President Obama. I do think that the fact that we as Americans were finally able to elect a black president is a huge leap, considering that less than a century ago, segregation was still a prominent practice in society. However, I think electing an effective president would have been even more amazing, and maybe if the media hadn't spent so much time covering what designer label Michelle Obama was wearing, where the Obama couple was going on date night, and the long process of the first family choosing what breed of dog to buy, our votes would have appeared a little more deeply-rooted in the ground of political issues.
Which brings me to the real topic of this blog post: Should voters have to justify their choices when it comes to filling out the ballot? Now I'm not just talking about the general voting public (aka the electoral college, but that's a subject for another blog post) but about congresspeople as well.
The fact is, there are a lot of campaigns encouraging people to vote each year (Rock the Vote, etc.), particularly during the presidential elections. America wants Americans to contribute and to make themselves heard so that we can elect the best (most popular) politician possible for each office. However, encouraging people to vote isn't enough. People need to be encouraged to make educated decisions. Because voting for someone merely because they belong to your political party or because their name is at the top of the ballot is worse than not voting at all.
As someone who does not belong to a political party, I was forced to actually resesarch each political office and each political candidate before voting in this year's gubernatorial election. Had I been a Republican or a Democrat, I could have easily voted for the candidate that represented my party without knowing anything about them or their plans for running my state. I could have voted for Mickey Mouse if I wanted to.
Now let's take voting to an even higher level, where Congress members are voting to pass bills (or to veto them) and can easily vote along party lines without justifying why they are voting this way. Because let's face it, there are a plethora of political opinions that compose each political party. All Republicans aren't necessarily against abortion and gay marriage, and all Democrats aren't necessarily against tax cuts for the wealthy, for example. So when my congress is voting on whether or not to repeal something like the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military, I want to know that they're making their making their decisions based on the right reasons, not on what the rest of their party is doing.
I don't want a Republican congressman voting against the repeal because that's how all of the other Republicans are voting. I want him to justify his vote, which is why I think that all voters should be required to support their vote with a written statement. If this congressman is voting against the repeal because he is homophobic or because he thinks that the Bible says being gay is wrong and he doesn't want to go against the Bible, he needs to write that down. And then his vote needs to be thrown out.
Because let's face it, people, the reason gay marriage hasn't been made legal all over the country isn't just because people are homophobic--it's because a great deal of religious people think that God doesn't like gays. And as you may recall, Church and State were long ago separated. At least they were on paper. But our money still says "IN GOD WE TRUST" and our political candidates are still getting campaign funds from religious groups that have an agenda and our presidents are still finding it appropriate to declare their religious beliefs to their voters.
Here's an article where Obama blabbers on about his Christian faith and how he will incorporate it into his presidency:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/09/28/130194136/president-obama-talks-christianity-and-more-in-nm-backyard
How is that even legal? In another article, when asked for his position on gay marriage, he responded, "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman." (http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactivism/p/BarackObama.htm)
When asked a political question, and the first words out of your mouth are, "I'm a Christian.", THERE'S A PROBLEM.
Hence my belief that all voters and politicians should be required to justify their votes. Because I have a feeling that some of the reasons behind these votes are highly unconstitutional.
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