How Represented Are We?

In light of the current political stage, we are forced to wonder if our elected officials are working for us. In recent years, it has become more apparent that the voters are not the people being represented but rather the people exploited in order to harvest votes and stay in office.

It was once said that there are not enough good people in office. It has also been said that power corrupts. Following those two statements, it is summarily said that good people may run for office, but are corrupted by the time they are elected. Given the information we have, it would seem that the corruption associated to power is so prevalent that it is impossible to navigate the money required for political office without being corrupted by the process.

As a member of a region that is rich in common sense and diverse in community, it seems that corruption does not have to be an insurmountable force. We must first acknowledge that "we" control who represents us. We have the ability to hire and fire those individuals. Essentially, their responsibility to us is balanced by our responsibility to keep them honest.

Just as "locks don't keep bad people out, they keep honest people honest", the people within our community need to keep their representatives honest by paying attention to what they do "after" they are elected. It could be said that a lot of our representatives could have stayed on the right path if they knew their community was paying attention.