My thoughts on yaoi--er, Congress...
Had this typed out in the comments to an article, and thought I'd share it here as well. My thoughts on democracy and responsibility:
"Not saying that Congresspeople aren't required to have personal and professional integrity, because that is something I continue to hope and strive for, but... did you happen to vote for those 'sleazeballs'? Did you vote at all? If you did vote for the person running against them and were simply outnumbered by virtue of the makeup of your state (being progressive in a conservative state or vice versa), you can still write to them and let them know your thoughts on issues. In fact, I think this can be MORE helpful if you know they disagree with you; the more constituents who disagree with them that they hear from, the more moderate it serves to keep them. You can also write letters to the editor to gain awareness and inform other voters about issues that you're particularly passionate about.
I always hear so many people complaining about their representatives, but when I ask why they voted for them, they explain that they were busy/they forgot to mail in their ballot/etc. When we are entrusting the biggest decisions affecting our country to only 535 people, those people need to be chosen with care, getting as many people's input as possible. A word I learned in college from the history of Greek democracy is "parrhesia"--it's literally translated "to speak", but it carries the connotation that those who have the right to speak/participate in government also have the RESPONSIBILITY to do so. We have a lot of freedoms here in the US that the rest of the world is still fighting and dying for. Let's not neglect them out of apathy or the mistaken belief that other things are more important. Yes, feeding your family, finding and keeping a job, and trying to afford medical bills are all important, but Congress makes decisions affecting those things all the time. The more informed you are about what they (and specifically your Congressperson) are doing, the better you'll be able to vote for a candidate who will actually improve your life instead of generating talking points."
"Not saying that Congresspeople aren't required to have personal and professional integrity, because that is something I continue to hope and strive for, but... did you happen to vote for those 'sleazeballs'? Did you vote at all? If you did vote for the person running against them and were simply outnumbered by virtue of the makeup of your state (being progressive in a conservative state or vice versa), you can still write to them and let them know your thoughts on issues. In fact, I think this can be MORE helpful if you know they disagree with you; the more constituents who disagree with them that they hear from, the more moderate it serves to keep them. You can also write letters to the editor to gain awareness and inform other voters about issues that you're particularly passionate about.
I always hear so many people complaining about their representatives, but when I ask why they voted for them, they explain that they were busy/they forgot to mail in their ballot/etc. When we are entrusting the biggest decisions affecting our country to only 535 people, those people need to be chosen with care, getting as many people's input as possible. A word I learned in college from the history of Greek democracy is "parrhesia"--it's literally translated "to speak", but it carries the connotation that those who have the right to speak/participate in government also have the RESPONSIBILITY to do so. We have a lot of freedoms here in the US that the rest of the world is still fighting and dying for. Let's not neglect them out of apathy or the mistaken belief that other things are more important. Yes, feeding your family, finding and keeping a job, and trying to afford medical bills are all important, but Congress makes decisions affecting those things all the time. The more informed you are about what they (and specifically your Congressperson) are doing, the better you'll be able to vote for a candidate who will actually improve your life instead of generating talking points."