Power and Democracy 111:  Committees and Chairmen


The Majority Leader of the Senate, The Speaker of the House, Chairmen and many more have been loyal party members and have expanded great energy to obtain their positions of power.  Constantly, they use their positions of power to coerce members of their party to be loyal and dutiful.

Many House Democrats have been coerced, bribed and threatened by Speaker Pelosi to vote for ObamaCare, environmental regulations, union benefits and other unpopular bills.  Members of Congress often put the fidelity of power possessed by their party leaders over the interests of their constituents and America.

For a Member of Congress, party fidelity is extremely important.  Without a coalition, a politician can not enact a law. Thus, it is crucial to be a member of a party and obey the dictates of the party leaders.  With elections rapidly approaching, many Members of Congress that dutifully voted for unpopular bills are panicking and begging for help.

As reported by Jonathan Martin of Politico, the following excerp, based on a recent memo from the White House responding to the demands of the Democratic Caucus,  exposes the tensions between being re-elected and being a loyal, obedient servant of the party.

“The president, vice president, first lady, Cabinet officers and senior staff have participated in 187 political events in the last 18 months, all with the intention of directly supporting candidates on the ballot in 2010 or building up the infrastructure of party committees,” reads the memo, obtained by POLITICO. “40 more events are currently or tentatively scheduled and dozens more will be organized in the next few months.”

Then, there is the most important ingredient in party politics - MONEY, MORE MONEY and EVEN MORE MONEY.  Politico reports in the article,“Principal Political Activity Benefiting House and Senate Incumbents and Candidates,” that the Obama-run Democratic National Committee has committed $50 million in support of races in 2010.

The political lesson:

The politician seeks a position of power, which requires the votes of his constituents.  However to be a power elite, the politician must be a loyal member of a party.  Politicians routinely put party loyalty above good policy.

Tragically, there are few independent legislators voting on what is best for their constituents and America.