One of the lawyers at the firm where I am a summer associate right now is in the Texas State House of Representatives. He was telling us about what he does there, what it is like and what the demographics of his district are like. He proceeds to tell us about how his district is very poor, with an average income per capita of something around $18,000/year. He also said he feels that he represents a very large number of illegal aliens in his district (he used the term undocumented residents or something like that) and he needs to look out for their interests. You can probably guess that he is a democrat.
So he tells us about how he represents all these poor people and then goes on to say that his focus for the next session is to write and pass legislation on renewable energy, basically increasing mandates on power companies to use renewable energy. Renewable energy is much more expensive and unreliable than coal, nuclear, and oil/gas; much more expensive.
I wonder how many of the people in this guy’s district would prefer to have their energy prices skyrocket. These are people that are barely making ends meet and are probably on welfare already. Cap and Trade, which is basically a mandate for renewable energy among other things, will almost double your current utility bill and increase gas prices by about 60%.
I’m guessing this guy doesn’t campaign on a platform of raising energy prices. Maybe he mentions global warming, but to his constituency, I doubt it. So is he really representing his constituents or does he think he is so morally and intellectually superior to them that he feels the need to save them from their ignorance on a topic like global warming.
I imagine a very small percentage of Americans, when given the facts on actual temperature change, which haven’t been warming for the last 8 years, and the huge increases in their bills that cap and trade will bring, would actually support it. Yet, somehow there are probably more than 50% of the members of congress ready to pass it.
Anyways, does this guy as a representative of people who already can barely afford their energy bill have a duty to not try and increase their energy bill; or does he have a moral obligation, at least in his mind, to save them from their ignorance?
Last 3 posts by Taylor
- Obama's Second Act - Very Very Scary - July 16th, 2010
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- Moral Relativity Reigns...except - April 9th, 2010
I do believe there are times when a correct move is not the one that necessarily represents a representative’s constituents’ point of view. That is one thing I learned from reading John Adams. Often he did things that were hugely unpopular to the population, but he moved forward anyways because of the moral obligation. But those instances are very, very rare. And I don’t think global warming is not one of those moral issues. Politicians are elected by the people to represent them. 99% of the time they should do that.
I definitely agree with you. In addition, however, I think there are certain areas where the President or representatives have much more information and understanding than the people could have. I think foreign policy is one of those. For example, President Washington’s decision not to aide the French Revolution was not very popular with a large part of the population, but was necessary to preserve the union’s economic stability and overall safety.
I’m on a list so I get a letter from Senator John Cornyn (Texas) every month where he describes his positions on the recent issues. Every time I get that letter, I ask myself the question of your post.
I’d like to believe that my representatives have the “bigger picture” in mind, but given the content and tone of his letters (which are much better than the canned Romney crap I get), I have a hard time believing that. The majority of the letter could have come out of a GOP newsletter (i.e. criticize Obama for not coming out stronger for the Iran protestors, Obama is ruining the economy, etc.)
Maybe as government has evolved to become more structured, too much time is spent just campaigning within your own party to get support for your relevant issues.
Man - I’m disenfranchised…