Post by POA on Apr 25, 2004 19:28:29 GMT -5
I'm starting this thread in order to discuss issues of how we would want politicians to act, not only as far as their status towards the rest of the party is concerned, but also how they act towards the people they're representing.
Here are the ideas that I have so far:
1) Politicians should come back to their (districts, states, et cetera) and have a public question and answer session with their constituents (randomly determined). I included this in Constitution II.
Of course they're going to be busy and perhaps they could only do this once every month or two, but as an idea this serves several different purposes.
One of these purposes is that it helps to build a sense of confidence that politicians from our party do genuinely represent the people who elect them, and it allows for people to interact with them on a regular basis. It also helps to build on the idea that politics should be participatory, instead of top-down.
Another purpose served is that it would also be outstanding publicity, especially compared to the way that most politicians from both parties seem to do business. They return to their states or their districts, go to a $1.5K/person (or more) fundraising dinner or speaking club, and nobody ever sees them but the rich.
2) It should be possible to throw politicians out of the party for being corrupt or for acting analogous to Zell Miller (perhaps that almost deserves a new word-Milleresque). It shouldn't be easy because this sort of measure isn't a toy, but it also shouldn't be impossible. Furthermore, this has to actually mean something in terms of their status as far as the party is concerned. ie, there shouldn't be a stable of corrupt former-politicians like Torricelli lingering around so people like Kerry can pay them off to do dirty work.
3) Politicians shouldn't be able to swing votes within the party as any kind of coherent bloc. This is one of the mechanisms of DLC control that I've discussed in another thread. One mechanism to prevent this might be to put a percentage limit on how many politicians could act as delegates (if we even want a system like this), and then randomly determine which politicians get to also be delegates, so that way you don't get potential cherrypicking from party officials to find people who agree with them.
Politicians work for the people who elect them-people who elect them shouldn't have to beg for politicians to represent them.
4) Fundraising should not be regarded as the single most important priority in the party, and it shouldn't be regarded as a fast ticket to any kind of real status in the party. This is one of the biggest mistake that the Democrats have made-people who have a lot of status as fundraisers end up with party positions and this naturally doesn't guarantee, at all, that they know anything about how to represent voters or their base.