At my speech on Sunday to the Arizona chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition, I expressed over and over that republican government merely reflects the people it represents. Let me count the ways:
- We elect our President. The winner has almost always received the most votes or was in a virtual tie. The exceptions: 1) in 2000 Bush lost the popular vote by 0.5 percent (a virtual tie) but won the electoral count; 2) Hayes lost the popular vote by 3.1 percent in 1876 but still won the electoral count; 3) Harrison defeated Cleveland in 1888 even though Cleveland received 0.8 percent more votes. [Some include 1824, but not all states popularly elected Electors back then.]
- We directly elect our representatives and, since 1913, we directly elect our Senators.
- We indirectly choose the political ideology of the Supreme Court. I heard numerous complaints about the Supreme Court and their legislating from the bench, but the Supreme Court must be chosen by the President and approved by the Senate. Thus, the Justices should hold the same values and politics of the people as a whole who elect those who choose them.
- In my home state of Arizona, our sales tax has risen from 6.7 percent to 9.3 percent in the last 25 years. How can the politicians raise taxes on us time after time thinking we won’t care? But they haven’t; we have. We the people of Arizona, Maricopa County, and Phoenix have voted for new sales taxes to build roads, trains, stadiums, and parks, hire more police and firemen, and support general government operations.
If we have anybody to blame for our government, it is us. We elect these people and often re-elect them, even after they have proven to care little for the Constitution or their constiuents. Heck, we often re-elect these guys even after they’ve been proven to be corrupt. We voted for higher taxes to pay for more government program and then complain about high taxes and government intervention. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.
Michael E. Newton 