Perhaps what’s most disturbing about Democrats’ naked political ambition is the contempt it bespeaks for the opinions of the ordinary Americans who voted them into office. If voters clearly oppose a party’s agenda and send a clear message to that effect – whether it’s by electing a formerly unknown member of the opposition party to a U.S. Senate seat in a special election or voting that party out in massive numbers during midterms – a decent respect for the will of the people would seem to compel obedience to voters’ expressed wishes.
This is a matter that transcends partisan differences – or should. When politicians of either party serving at the people’s pleasure brazenly refuse to act in accord with the wishes of those they purportedly represent – and, in fact, collude and strategize to find ways to subvert the popular will – it isn’t just outrageous, disheartening and profoundly unbecoming (though it is all of those). It actually represents a challenge to the concept of democracy itself, and an assault on the civic health of a democratic republic.
And as a result, more than anything, it imposes upon fair-minded citizens of all parties an important responsibility: That of administering a stinging rebuke to politicians who have forgotten that they are supposed to work to represent their fellow citizens, not to rule them. Let’s hope it’s a responsibility Americans take seriously, come next November.
Carol Platt Liebau
Carol Platt Liebau is an attorney, political commentator and guest radio talk show host based near New York. Learn more about her new book, "Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Hurts Young Women (and America, Too!)"
here.