Insist on Accountability in 2021
Accountability Citizenship encourages readers to identify their top priority values and issues, then to use those values and issues to become well informed and to engage elected officials.
My personal top priority is accountability for our Congress. In this regard, I have pledged never to vote for an incumbent representative or senator who has not taken the Project Vote Smart Political Courage Test or updated their web sites to provide visibility into all constituent correspondence.
Over the past 20 years, the percentage of representatives and senators in our United States Congress who have taken the votesmart.org Political Courage Test has dropped from almost 80 percent to less than 20 percent. When asked, politicians’ responses basically boil down to this: they will not take the test because it puts them at political risk by creating a clear public record of where they stand on key current issues. I am shocked that the very people with the power to send our sons and daughters into combat lack the courage to face a little political risk in the interest of supporting their oath to the Constitution of the United States.
Survey technology has advanced rapidly in recent years. My bank’s web site incorporates frequent surveys on a wide variety of topics. As soon as I respond to these surveys, I see a pie chart displaying the total number of responses and how many people support each possible answer. Each of us should be able to log in to the web site for our representative and senators in Congress. Our voter registration number and a password could create a secure way for us to submit our views on current issues and our top priorities. Once we have done this, we could see a summary of the input others in our district and state have submitted. This is the only way we can know how the actions of our representatives and senators line up with the views of their constituents.
Join me by insisting on these two basic, non-partisan initiatives to strengthen America’s faith in the first branch of our government—the Congress. Write or email your representative and senators. Then find out who is running against your current representative and senators in next November’s election, and ask them to support these accountability initiatives.
I believe that the power of these initiatives justifies using them as a litmus test for your vote in next November’s congressional election. Join me in asking your elected officials and candidates to support accountability by taking the Political Courage Test and by incorporating survey technology on their web sites.
My personal top priority is accountability for our Congress. In this regard, I have pledged never to vote for an incumbent representative or senator who has not taken the Project Vote Smart Political Courage Test or updated their web sites to provide visibility into all constituent correspondence.
Over the past 20 years, the percentage of representatives and senators in our United States Congress who have taken the votesmart.org Political Courage Test has dropped from almost 80 percent to less than 20 percent. When asked, politicians’ responses basically boil down to this: they will not take the test because it puts them at political risk by creating a clear public record of where they stand on key current issues. I am shocked that the very people with the power to send our sons and daughters into combat lack the courage to face a little political risk in the interest of supporting their oath to the Constitution of the United States.
Survey technology has advanced rapidly in recent years. My bank’s web site incorporates frequent surveys on a wide variety of topics. As soon as I respond to these surveys, I see a pie chart displaying the total number of responses and how many people support each possible answer. Each of us should be able to log in to the web site for our representative and senators in Congress. Our voter registration number and a password could create a secure way for us to submit our views on current issues and our top priorities. Once we have done this, we could see a summary of the input others in our district and state have submitted. This is the only way we can know how the actions of our representatives and senators line up with the views of their constituents.
Join me by insisting on these two basic, non-partisan initiatives to strengthen America’s faith in the first branch of our government—the Congress. Write or email your representative and senators. Then find out who is running against your current representative and senators in next November’s election, and ask them to support these accountability initiatives.
I believe that the power of these initiatives justifies using them as a litmus test for your vote in next November’s congressional election. Join me in asking your elected officials and candidates to support accountability by taking the Political Courage Test and by incorporating survey technology on their web sites.