Squeakers

Bilbo:
This country was never a real “democracy” and it was neve meant to be. The Founding Fathers set it up as a Democratic Republic, which is a different sort of animal. In a true democracy, everyone votes on everything; are you prepared to vote on the dog-cather issue in Lower Moosejaw, MT? Do you even know what the issue is? No? I didn’t think so.
A Democratic Republic is defined as “A form of government in which the people hold most of the power; that power is exercised through representatives elected for that purpose by those citizens eligible to vote.” This is what the Founders set up for us and it used to work quite well; it could still work well IF we elected people who would actually REPRESENT our views. The problem arises when we elect, and re-elect, and re-elect (ad nauseum) those who feel that they have been elected to forward THEIR agendas, not ours.
When those hired to represent us do not do an adequate job, they should be fired! Would you keep hiring a plumber or a mechanic who consistently failed to correct your problems, while at the same time blaming you for each failure and then turning around and billing you an exorbitant amount each time? I surely wouldn’t! If you’re not satified with the work your government hirelings (ie, representatives, House and Senate) are doing, don’t send them back to keep doing things you didn’t hire them to do. FIRE THEM!!
Most people don’t look at the white collar professions this way. Most don’t hesitate to fire that incompetent plumber or mechanic, but feel that doctors, lawyers, and those we send to represent us in government are somehow immune to that treatment, are somehow sacrosanct … immune from criticism or censure. They are NOT!!!!
People need to wake up and start really examining what these people are doing in your name. And make no mistake, when you vote to send them off to represent you they become your voice in government. If these people consistently don’t represent the views of you and your neighbors, vote them out of office! Hire someone else who WILL represent your views, and let them know right up front if they fail to do that job you will NOT rehire them. A lot won’t believe you’re serious, but after one or two are summarily dismissed for failure to perform the rest will start to get the message.
This means that you will have to think about your own views and compare them to a candidate’s, which takes a bit of time … time well worth spending. And under no circumstances should voting be done on a “straight party ticket” basis. No matter what party you favor, I guarantee that voting this way will assure that some people will take office who couldn’t care less about what you and your fellow citizens really want.
I will close with one simple question and one comment: Do your representatives, at all levels, actually represent your view, at least most of the time? If the answer is “No” and you keep sending them back anyway, you deserve whatever you get in return.

Andy,
About two years ago my wife and I were in need of a new general practice doctor; we “shopped around” by talking to friends and spending time checking the state medical board’s web site for malpractice suits, complaints, etc.. We finally settled on a prospect and set up an appointment; this doctor was somewhat surprised when he found out the reason for our appointment was to interview him for the position of our family physician. He was even more surprised when he found out we had checked with the state about malpractice complaints, filings, and so forth.
However, he has worked out beautifully. He actually listens to us and doesn’t presume that because we aren’t medical doctors ourselves we aren’t capable of properly describing our problems and needs. As a result we are now getting the best medical care we have ever had.
We were also instrumental in getting our U.S. Congressman of many terms fired and replaced with someone who, in the last two years, has actually worked for the best interests of her constituency. We don’t claim to have done this alone, but we spent a lot of time getting folks to think about the points I have raised here. If more people would only take the time to do some minimal investigating (voting and attendance records are easily accessed) we would all be better off.
As Will Rogers once said, “Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.”
P.S. I have used the definition of insanity that you quoted for a number of years. Heinlein was right about The Crazy Years … his only error was one of timing; he set them in the 1980′s. In actuality, The Crazy Years are NOW!!

(scratches head) I thought Clinton won 1996 by more than 2%. It was a clean-sweep from what I remember as a voter in that election.

Note from Ned–
GWP, you’re quite right that the 1996 election was not close. Sheppard tells me his point is that even so, a lot of not-so-close elections could have gone the other way if just the right combination of votes had gone the other way, enough to shift the Electoral College totals to favor the loser. He says he did this study because he couldn’t find others that demonstrated the interplay between the popular and electoral votes.