Earl Pomeroy: I’m not Nancy Pelosi, President Obama

Democracy and Power 109:  Majority Controls

 A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man.  In order to get any where near high office has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.   H.L. Menchen

As a member of a legislative body, it is nearly impossible for an individual politician to advance their legislation by themselves.  The successful politician must be in the majority, or needed by the majority. 

Thus, the politician must cooperate and compromise with his fellow members.  In America, this is logically accomplished by being a loyal and obedient member of the Democratic or Republican parties.

Earl Pomeroy: I’m not Nancy Pelosi, President Obama

An individual member of Congress is unable to advance legislation without the support of the majority party.  To be a power player, a politician must be a loyal and obedient member of a political party.  Representative Pomeroy was an obedient member of the Democratic party. 

In the past, Pomeroy’s constituents have had little knowledge of votes he made.  Times have changed.  The media is more diversified.  The issues are more controversial.  The public fears debt and big government.  Or, it is a combination of these and more.

The challenge of being a loyal party member and pleasing your voting constituents has changed.  The public is knowledgeable and are now holding politicians accountable.  Hence, Pomeroy has recently distanced himself from the Democratic leadership in an attempt to garner his constituents’ votes. 

Andy Barr reports in Politico:

“I know I’ve disappointed you with a vote here or there,” the nine-term Democrat says in the ad. “But you can always count on the fact that I do what I do for the right reason.”

 As Barr notes, this is a hundred and eighty degrees of change:  The ad is a striking admission from a candidate who earlier in the campaign ran an ad defending his votes on health care. 

The conflict of interest between party loyalty and pleasing constituents has changed for Pomeroy and all politicians – Republicans and Democrats alike.  Multi-media and public concern is rapidly increasing the power of the concerned citizen.