Listening and Speaking, Speaking and Listening

Stuart Shepard works for CitizenLink, the political action arm of Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs.  He puts together some fantastic videos offering commentary on the current socio-political situation in the United States.  In my mind, he's a genius.

I watched his latest video, and you can, too, by going to this link:

http://www.citizenlink.com/2013/09/25/stoplight-grandstanding-on-principle/

I agree with the main premise, and mostly certainly agree with how Stuart compares the liberal mainstream media's portrayal of Texas State Senator Wendy Davis versus US Senator Ted Cruz.  The end is the one part that really sticks out, the part that Stuart says we should remember about Senator Cruz's lengthy talk on the Senate floor.  During that time, Senator Cruz said, "The frustration is that the men and women in Washington aren't listening". In light of this statement, Stuart then poses a question to the viewers: "Are we even bothering to tell our elected officials what we think?"

Now I hear a lot of talk that no matter what, some politicians have such a strong grip on their respective offices that there's no way they will ever get defeated.  These politicians tend to ignore common interests and pay attention only to the special interests that provide them the resources (read: money) that keep them in office.

Yet our government is still founded on the idea that we the people elect officials to serve in government.  In this model, they are dependent on the electorate in its entirety to derive legitimacy for their governing.  Since we elect our officials, we should be involved in their work as our own.  We should be taking the time to tell them what we think.

I do this all the time with government officials at all levels, from local to federal.  This includes Representative Danny Davis, even though I disagree with his stance on a number of issues, especially social, in which he is firmly resolved; furthermore, he has a strong base of support on the West Side of Chicago that he never has to face any substantial opposition in any election for his Congressional seat.  Even though I may be in an unfavorable situation as such, I still make it my business to interact with him, speaking my mind about issues that matter to me.  Elected officials are there to listen to constituents and then act.

In some cases, these officials may very well pay attention.  I once received an e-mail communication asking people to contact their Illinois state representatives to vote against the bill that would legalize homosexual marriage in Illinois.  The man who sent out the e-mail said his state representative was actually counting the number of people who called, and took note of which side the caller supported.  I contacted my state representative, LaShawn Ford, on this issue, and others--so much so, in fact, that I decided just to log his Springfield office number into my contacts on my cell phone.

While there are many times in life when it is better to listen than speak, when it comes to our elected officials, we should be speaking, because that is a fundamental and important part of our system of government.