A most interesting “Talk of Alaska” was recently broadcast on KTOO Public Radio. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, was invited to hear from Alaskans, take questions and respond.
Respectfully, I was underwhelmed with his presentation, his answers to questions and his seeming diversion to issues other than those posed by callers. Was he listening to Alaskans or was this a soapbox presentation? The hostess appeared to have her challenges to interrupt him sufficient to allow callers to speak. His statements appeared to contain apologetics apart from the subject presented by the caller. His multiple attempts to introduce “rule of law” concepts seemed thematic. What was all of that about?
Sullivan is but one of our many elected officials. Elected officials of all stripes have a responsibility to pay attention to their constituents (phone messages, emails, snail-mail, personal contact and, yes, even the dreaded town meetings). Citizens have the responsibility to ask direct questions and they deserve direct answers rather than being blown off with rhetoric served up by the lock-step of prevailing ideology rather than pragmatic critical thinking.
Politicians on all sides of the aisles and in the periphery are often led and emboldened to “follow the money” in order to stay in office at all costs. But wait — one of Sullivan’s own, Barry Goldwater, opined this about elected officials and citizenry:
“The fact that liberty depended on honest elections was of the utmost importance to patriots who founded our nation and wrote the Constitution. They knew that corruption destroyed the prime requisite of constitutional liberty: an independent legislature free from any influence other than that of the people. Applying these principles to modern times, we can make the following conclusions: To be successful, representative government assumes that elections will be controlled by the citizenry at large, not by those who give the most money. Electors must believe their vote counts. Elected officials must owe their allegiance to the people, not to their own wealth or to the wealth of interest groups that speak only for the selfish fringes of the whole community.”
I am neither Republican nor Democrat. I am an American who wishes to have intelligent representation by an American with critical thinking and reason and who is able to speak honestly and transparently to constituents.
I believe most citizens do not want or need rhetorical blah-blah in answer to our questions to elected officials. Neither do most citizens want to suck up to the lock-stock and cockroach of tabloid campaigning, irrelevant social media and knee-jerk responses of elected officials.
Some suggestions:
• Listen to your constituents with an intent to actually hear.
• If you don’t know the answer, skip the BS about different subjects. Try to find factual information to learn for yourself and then share it.
• Do not be afraid of your party or your potential donors. It is possible for you to be your own person.
• If you are focused only on winning the next election, you may get lots of money to do that. In doing that, will you serve Alaskans, America or our global community? Remember, there are many Alaskans, Americans and world citizens who want to help make democracy work.
• carolyn V Brown resides in Douglas.
