The following is an open letter to every Senator and member of the House of Representatives. I hope you take time to call, write, email or text your Congressional representatives.
I am a 78-year-old retired mid-level state administrator and professor emeritus from a Midwestern university. I was a respected member of the law enforcement and security community. I have testified before Congress on matters related to the regulation of the security industry, and am the author of a highly respected security book. More importantly, I have always been an independent voter, voting for the person, not the party.
I should not need to remind you that America was founded as a democratic, representative republic. While the right to vote has expanded over the past 250 years, the central principle remains the same: voters elect representatives to Congress to reflect the views and interests of their communities. That principle has been under attack since the early 1800s, when party affiliation increasingly became more about gaining control of government than responding to the electorate. Partisan politics has become institutionalized despite warnings from many of those founding fathers about the dangers of political factions. President Trump’s current demands for redistricting (gerrymandering) to increase Republican Party control of Congress was not part of the blueprint written by our founding fathers.
Today, partisan politics is driven not only by loyalty to a party, but by loyalty to a president. You were elected to represent your constituents, not your party, and certainly not any individual leader. For those of you who are Republicans, that responsibility should outweigh loyalty to President Trump or a gerrymandered district. There has always been tension over the direction this nation should take (e.g., state’s rights versus a strong federal government; slave versus free), but that tension has historically produced compromises that have allowed the country to prosper. Congress must return to a genuine exchange of ideas, and move away from rigid party loyalty and deference to presidential influence!
Consider the polls: President Trump is not leading the country in the direction he promised. The polls reflect the opinion of the people you were elected to represent. On the average among all polls, approximately 2/3 of those polled do not support President Trump (although 80% of Republicans continue to support him but perhaps not all his policies). Do your job by considering what your full range of constituents want and work with one another to improve the nation’s circumstances. A renewed reading of the Declaration of Independence might be worthwhile. Many of the grievances listed in that document may feel relevant to the way in which Donald Trump is leading America. He is ignoring laws, challenging judges, eliminating or limited established government agencies, establishing a paramilitary enforcement unit (ICE), and creating economic chaos with his tariffs. The grievances outlined in the Declaration of Independence serve as a formal indictment of King George III’s actions, which the American colonists viewed as tyrannical. The following are just a few of the key grievances they listed:
- Dissolution of legislative bodies that opposed the king’s views.
- Obstruction of justice by making judges dependent on his will
- Imposition of a standing army
- Transportation for trial by arresting and transporting those opposed to the King’s views to England.
- Interference with trade, limiting economic freedom.
- Forbidding governors to pass laws unless approved by the King.
For those of you who are truly serving your voters, I offer my respect and appreciation. To those who are beholden to financial or political interests rather than to the people who elected you, I urge you to recommit yourselves to public service or else step aside! If this representative democratic republic is to remain a beacon, you must represent those who elect you to Congress. If not, this 250-year experiment will be in serious jeopardy.
Robert James Fischer, PhD, Professor Emeritus
President, Assets Protection Associates, Inc.
Thoughts from the Middle by Robert J. Fischer 