The Arrogance of Power

Power begets arrogance. Republican or Democrat, President Bush or Senator Kennedy--it matters not. Once elected to public office, some people believe they are BETTER than the people who elected them. The believe themselves to be smarter, better informed, and more deserving of special treatment and benefits. I know I am not the only person who sees this arrogance. A letter from Larry Lipson of Orange, California, to the editor of the Orange County Register is a perfect example:

"I feel my senators' pain, and they will feel my vote

"I fully empathize with the frustrations expressed by numer­ous senators, such as Harry Reid and Dianne Feinstein, as they complain that President George W. Bush ignores their constant pleading to start withdrawing troops from Iraq. The president ignores them and does what he wants to do.

"I feel my senators' pain because it is the same pain that I experienced after sending many letters and e-mails to my senators pleading for them not to pass the amnesty bill that they seemed so bound and de­termined to pass.

"The responses that I received said that I did not 'understand' the real­ities of the situation (being the unin­formed citizen-voter that they be­lieve I am) and only they, the omnip­otent senators; know what should be done for the good of the country.

"Talk-radio rallied millions of citi­zens to action. The senators' e-mail system was overwhelmed and the Senate's phone system crashed un­der the load of citizen-voter calls. The Senate's response to this citizen pressure was first to kill the amnes­ty bill (they whined and complained about the stupid citizens interfering with what the senators wanted to do, but killed the bill, anyway). Sec­ond, the Senate attempted to pass a bill to return the "fairness doctrine" to throttle talk-radio broadcasting, hoping to prevent a re-run of this type of illumination of the self-exalt­ed (and obviously none of my busi­ness) Senate deliberation process and to prevent a re-run of citizen in­volvement in the federal lawmaking process.

"My plan to ameliorate the pain of my arrogant, omnipotent senators is to vote the straight 'non-incumbent' ticket in the next election. It is time for citizen-voters to take this coun­try back."

Larry's plan will not work, first, because a significant number of voters will not do as he does; second, because if enough voters did that, they would be removing the good guys along with the bad. It sure would be refreshing if voters in general perceived this arrogance and voted against it in future elections. We should vote for people who support our positions on major issues and who offer sensible solutions to the nation's problems, not for the ones who offer glib rhetoric or charming personalities.

Politicians tell us over and over again that they are smarter than you and I. I don't know about you, but it's not true for me. I received better grades than Bush, or Kerry, or Kennedy in an Ivy Leage College. They say that they know more than you or I. It's true that they have access to more information than we do on some subjects, such as progress in the Iraq war, but they don't read all of it. They have staff members that filter out what they know the boss "is not interested in." They ignore or trivialize the facts and statistics that do not support their personal beliefs. And they brush off the questions and comments of those who disagree with them. One hundred senators voted on an immigration bill that most of them had not read all the way through, and many voted in favor of it anyway.

Our elected officials put their pants on one leg at a time just as we do. We are "smart" enough to have elected them to office. But once they are in office, the arrogance takes over, and they no longer pay attention to the voices of the very people who elected them. Shame, shame, shame...