Molecular Politics -- Part Two

1999-2-22 04:01:00

In all countries where there are free elections you have political parties that represent the conservative side on one hand and the liberal side on the other. In this treatise we shall mainly deal with politics as they exist in he United States, but the principles under discussion should apply to all free countries for they all have an interplay between the pairs of opposites.

Some countries have numerous parties representing the two sides, but in the United States over 90% of the population is generally represented by the two major parties - the Republican and Democratic parties.

Both parties claim to represent the "people," but in reality each party represents the view of fewer than 50 per cent of the voters because of third parties and independent people.

Therefore, if you are a Democrat and are in a district where a Republican is elected you have to bite your tongue until the next election or longer. Then if a Democrat is elected at that time the Republican has to wander in the limbo of not being represented.

The point is that no matter who is elected only a minority is represented and the rest of the people are very disgruntled that their view is completely bypassed until their side wins again. Wouldn't people be much happier if their views have a chance of being represented at all times?

This may seem like a pipe dream, but through the principle of Molecular Politics this becomes possible.

But before we get to the solution let us make sure we understand the complete problem. In addition to the frustration of not getting our party of choice in office half the time, voters also suffer considerable frustration when their candidate of choice seems to wander off the expected course and votes on numerous occasions contrary to even the will of his supporters.

There are seven strong influences on politicians that cause them to ignore the will of the people whom they claim to represent.

(1) Polls. We have already illustrated how polls are manipulated to appear as if they represent the will of the people when sometimes they do not. If the politician votes according to the polls his real voters will often be frustrated.

(2) Political groups, action committees and all those with a political agenda who contribute a significant amount of money or influence to help the candidate get elected. When this occurs the candidate incurs the well known political debt that he must repay while in office or incur the wrath of those who put him there. If he refuses to vote in a way that pleases these powerful ones then they will work against him in the next election.

Is the will of the people represented when the politician votes the will of the few powerful ones who financed him?

No. Of course not.

(3) The third obstacle that interferes with the will of the people are special interest groups and large corporations who spend many millions in lobbying politicians so they will vote and legislate according to their will.

These lobbyists will visit the legislator on as regular basis as possibly and lay their cause and wishes before him. They will also throw parties, wine and dine, and arrange field trips in the Bahamas and other exotic locations so the legislator can become better informed of certain problems. They also help to arrange for fund raising contacts to help assure reelection.

Now let us say it is time to vote for project X. The majority of the people are against it and a few have written letters about it, but they have not captured the Congressman's attention nearly as much as the constant influence and "assistance" of the lobbyist. When it comes time to vote, he votes "yes" because the pressure, the gifts, the parties, the free vacation are very fresh in his mind.

So when the politician votes the will of the special interest group is he truly representing the will of the majority of the people he claims to represent? In many cases the answer is a resounding "no!"

(4) Another common way that the people are not represented is through the trading of votes.

How does this happen? Here is an example: Let us say, for instance that the Senator from Arkansas wants a grant for research into chicken feathers and the Senator from Idaho wants money for research into the control of the rabbit population. Now neither of these projects have enough support to pass, but each one of these guys would be a big hero in his home state if he could bring home the big bucks so here's what they do. The Senator from Idaho approaches the senator from Arkansas and says. I don't really care about your feather research project in Arkansas, but I desperately need to get my rabbit project passed so I'll tell you what. You vote for my project and I'll vote for yours.

The Arkansas Senator jumps at this and agrees and so they make a trade or agreement and support each other's projects even though neither the Senators nor their constituents could give a rat's behind about it.

So when the Senator from Idaho votes for the feather project in Arkansas, is the will of the people he represents truly represented?

We often hear of strange projects that our Congress sends millions of dollars on, like the study of the sex life of a mosquito, and we wonder who was crazy enough to have voted for such a thing. This trading of votes is part of the answer and is also one of the reasons Congress always manages to spend more money than they should.

(5) Another problem interfering with representation is ignorance. You have probably heard about pieces of legislation that are accompanied by something like 1,500 pages of research. Do you think our legislators take the time to read the whole thing? Very rarely. The real truth is that they often do not even read one page of material that is related to a bill they are voting on. Quite often all they know about the bill is what they have heard tossed around in debate or what their party bosses have told them.

Many bills have riders attached to them that will have more teeth than the bill itself. Often times the politician will know only a small amount about the bill and little or nothing about the riders, unless the rider happens to be a pay raise for himself and colleagues.

Therefore, we ask, when the legislator votes for something he knows little or nothing about can he in any way truly represent the will of the people who voted for him? Again the answer is no.

(6) Influence from party leaders is another big item. We have seen time and time again that close to 100% of legislators vote along party lines because of pressure from their leaders and the group itself.

From the time we were teenagers most of us have had some desire to fit in with a group and conform. This influence carries over in many ways to adulthood and is strongly manifest when our guy goes to Washington. We have seen time and time again that a person with high goals and good intentions goes off to Washington only to wind up under the thumb of part leaders and Washington influence.

When your man in Washington votes according to the wishes of party leaders is he then representing the will of the folks back home? Again the answer is obvious.

(7) The final barrier to real representation is prejudice. Each elected official has certain preconceived notions and religious convictions that are not the same as us folks who voted for him.

If this person believes that the earth is only 7,000 years old because of religious conviction will this not affect his votes on education which teaches evolution?

If his religious convictions makes him strongly for or against abortion we know that there is nothing in the world including the will of the people, that will alter his vote.

If the man uses pot then he will support the legalization of it.

If he has lots of kids he will favor tax breaks for families and so on.

Each legislator brings numerous prejudices to his vote that have nothing to do with the will of the people.

So when we view all seven of these obstacles to the will of the people we may feel overwhelmed and feel within ourselves that we should just give up trying to change anything and just hope for the best.

The truth is that we do not have to give up on the possibility that the will of the people can become truly manifest. Such a thing is not only possible, but it is the destiny of the age to come.

There is a solution to these seven obstacles and they can be eliminated in one master stroke which is in complete harmony with the Constitution of the United States and most other free countries. Instead of just complaining about political situations, in our next article we will present a practical solution that will revolutionize the political world and eventually become a subject of great debate.

  

-- End Of Part Two --

  

Go to:

Molecular Politics -- Part Three

Molecular Politics -- Part One

  

Recommended Reading:

The Molecular Relationship