Representation

"Taxation without representation". We all know the phrase, or did, as we were taught it as one of the cornerstones of the American revolution. I find it semi-ironic that one of the things that got everyone fired up was an economic gripe when we so many of our current problems are directly related to inequality and the insane policies being enacted in the name of unfettered immoral greed, the all-holy capitalism. But that is a post for another day.

But how about "representation without representation"? As in elected officials, namely Congress, that just flat-out refuse to act on behalf of the people that they were actually and literally put there to defend the interests of. Hell, for most of them it is in their job title, for fuck's sake. (Okay, so technically they do represent someone's interest, but it usually a select few that will somehow profit. There's that capitalism thing again! Damn, it really is hard to get around, but still not what I'm talking about.) And yet they frequently act in direct opposition to their constituents' wishes. I am carefully drawing distinction between wishes and best interests here since said constituents so often vote against said best interests and thus deserve what they get. Hmm, it is really proving difficult to get to my point here, which is point out very specific instances of our elected officials giving us the middle finger by enacting legislation that is in direct opposition to what we say we want. Which is actually partially our fault because we say we want x, but are too stupid to recognize that we are actually actively promoting and supporting y. Gaaaah! Distracted and confused again! My point, in escalating examples:

- the Republican tax plan about to probably be passed - aside from being a horrorshow designed (if anything so haphazardly constructed can be said to have been designed) to actually increase inequality, is highly unpopular with only 29% in favor and 53% "actively opposed". This is predictably skewed along party lines (only 6% of Democrats approve vs 67% of Republicans) but those pesky independents only support at a pretty dismal 25%. Will this tip the scales against the giant money and pressure being brought to bear the by those (corporations and the wealthy) who stand to benefit the most from the plan? How say you Representative Chris Collins (R-NY): "My donors are basically saying 'Get it done or don't ever call me again'".

- 83% of people disagree with the FCC revocation of net neutrality. Okay, so this was done by a committee of appointees, so maybe doesn't belong here, but they were appointed by elected folks so I think it still qualifies. In any event, if 4 out of 5 people are saying "please don't do this, I think it is a bad idea" why is it still going down? Maybe it had something to do with the millions of false comments that were used to post support during the public comment period. I wonder who paid for that? There is hope on this one, however faint, as something like 19 attorneys general are suing the FCC - take that, Ajit Pai, you $#*&@ - but again, I digress.

- after one of our recent mass shootings (if I stop to consider with any depth how horrific that statement is and that it is even possible I will curl up in a ball and never get anything done, so let's just move on) public polling, all of it, indicated that the vast and overwhelming and majority of Americans favored enacting stricter gun control measures, with usually around ninety freaking per cent in favor of universal background checks. 90%!  Yet when such a piece of legislation was put forth, it never even got out of committee. This, of course, saved our distinguished representatives from actually having to cast any votes against something that essentially everyone wants, which raises spinelessness to new levels. Wishes, best interests or whatever, we ain't being served.

These are only a few of the endless examples of this disturbing trend. Maybe is is time update more of the ideals from our revolutionary roots. "Join or Die" is a little dark. "We the People" is pithy but kind of passe. We could update "Don't Tread on Me" to "Don't Fuck With Us", but that would probably appeal to the Dolt45's minions. I personally like "Take Notice".