Article published Jun 14, 2005
LETTERS
Lawmakers should serve people, not the party
The current crop U.S. representatives and senators from Tennessee seem to have forgotten just who it is they are supposed to be serving. Was it their political party that elected them and sent them to Washington, D.C., or was it the good people of this state? Through their deeds and actions, lawmakers appear to be mindlessly backing the whims of their political party instead of considering how each of their actions can and do affect the citizens of our state.
An example of this was the Senate fight to rob our nation of the defense of the filibuster, which protects the rights of the minority against the force of an interested and overbearing majority, to paraphrase James Madison.
They need a wake-up call. We do not want ideologues who blindly follow the agenda of a political party. We want individuals who listen to the myriad of voices and represent the viewpoints carried by the constituents of their state, including those they may or may not personally agree with.
Our lawmakers should be:
- Defending the rights of the average citizen against the unjust encroachment upon their constitutional rights by the executive branch.
- Defending the civil rights of gays and lesbians, as there is no legitimate governmental interest in denying them.
- Ensuring our government gets its financial house in order before the cost is more than we can afford to pay.
And getting our country out of a unjust and immoral war is how you truly support the troops.
It is only by speaking against injustice and unjust things as I do here that you support both your state and your nation.
