Can there be true political representation?

By Scott Nesler

March 30th was the deadline to file for election in the Missouri State House of Representatives. I'm sure similar deadlines are approaching in other states.

This deadline got me to think. Would it be possible for a congressman or elected official to truly represent his or her constituents? To do so he or she would have to provide the forum for each citizen to be heard. Order, respect, and intelligence would have to be inorder for this to work. Certainly the chaotic behavior of citizens portrayed in the media would be difficult to muster civil consensus.

Order from Chaos

Intelligent people are all around. Some cannot verbally articulate, others are not skilled at writing, some cannot figure, and others have a poor since of reason. Non the less, there are intelligent thoughts amongst these individuals worthy of expression.

Given the forum, the coaching advice, the ability to revise a thought, and the visibility to be heard, could an elected official represent the collective intelligence of his or her constituency?

There are two sides to this questions

  1. Will an individual, granted authority of rule, step to the plate as a coach for his or her constituents?
  2. Will the community step away from petty disagreements, anger, and selfishness to articulate an intelligent point of view.

This essay is on going. I will ask the posed question to elected officials and passionate citizens, then report the feedback to this forum. Responses are not expected to be a final product. Originators of a response will be allowed to change or build upon a thought.

Volunteers are requested to submit a response. Below are individuals explicitly notified of the question.

  1. 2010-04-02 - Mike Casey - City Council Member Chesterfield, MO - Contacted via direct email
    • Responded 2010-04-05
      • Suggested we could meet to discuss the thought in more detail.
  2. 2010-04-02 - Charles Dooley - St. Louis County, County Executive - Contacted via St. Louis County Web site - Yet to receive a response
  3. 2010-04-02 - Todd Akin - Federal House of Representive from Missouri - Contacted via Todd Akin's Web page - Yet to receive a response
  4. 2010-04-02 - Richard Stallman - Originator of the GNU licence agreement - Contacted via email
    • Responded 2010-04-03
      • Suggested this query was too philosophical and my efforts would be better served seeking a group to develop a concrete solution to an agreed upon problem.
  5. 2010-04-02 - Noam Chomsky - professor emeritus of linguistics at Massachusets Institute of Technology
    • Responded 2010-04-03
      • Based on his schedule he did not feel he could contribute a reliable response.

 

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(Please don't let the lack of participation fool you, the charts are functional).
"The Sound of Silence"

Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning. -- Katherine Anne Porter

 

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