It’s been a while since we’ve been happy with the officials we elect to serve in Congress. A review of recent survey numbers, while not surprising, should help us reflect and focus on what we should do about them.
— Some 7 percent of respondents have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress, according to a June survey by Gallup. This is the lowest number Gallup has ever registered for any institution of which the question was asked.
— In early August, 13 percent of Gallup respondents registered their approval of Congress with 83 percent disapproving. Only 2 percent strongly approve and 55 percent strongly disapprove.
— Nineteen percent believe most representatives deserve re-election. This is the lowest for any midterm election poll Gallup has done.
— A Rasmussen Reports poll finds that 79 percent of voters “feel most members of Congress listen to political party leaders more than the people they represent.”
It seems fair to conclude that we are displeased. We might ask, why don’t politicians get it? If you or I received this kind of rating on our performance review, we would immediately be put on an improvement plan. And if we didn’t quickly turn things around, we would be gone.
The answer is that they don’t need to care. Voter choices are limited with usually two candidates frequently chosen by the more rabid partisan activists on either end of the spectrum. Maine may not be as bad as Washington, but the parallel exists between national and state political processes. Therefore, the way we should address the dysfunction, gridlock and partisanship is similar.
Legislators seem to forget they are hired to govern. Their responsibility is to manage the affairs of the state for the benefit of Maine as a whole. It is not their function to believe they are inspired by perfect knowledge that bestows the right to insist they are right and must have their way.
We elect them to advocate for our interests — this is proper. But if the affairs of state are to progress in a positive direction, they and the voters need to understand all substantial issues have multiple competing and valid points of view. We need officials who recognize this and work with all interested parties to construct policies that will be supported and successful for the long term.
Our political parties no longer do so. An independent candidate can.
So, the more important question is, why don’t we voters get it?
Gallup earlier this summer asked voters what they would do to fix Congress. Only 3 percent suggested reducing the influence of the political parties, introducing a third party or electing more independents. (The biggest vote-getter, at 22 percent, was to fire them all and start over.)
But Mainers surely remember our experience with independent Gov. Angus King. He had the spoiler label, yet he won the election. His percentage of the vote in 1994, 35 percent, caused some grumbling, but then what happened? He was re-elected with a resounding 59 percent of the vote in 1998 and subsequently was sent to Washington by a convincing margin.
It turns out the spoiler didn’t spoil things too bad after all. Haven’t we learned that a competent candidate with no party baggage can work with all parties to change Maine for the better?
We are now offered another independent candidate for governor. No one has suggested Eliot Cutler is unqualified for the job. With his long and successful careers in public service and private business, he is uniquely qualified to balance the needs of the general public with the importance of a prosperous, private economy. But all we hear about is the spoiler role. Our experience with King should have gotten us over that.
We are clearly unhappy. We must listen to ourselves when we voice disapproval with how our representatives manage our affairs. We must understand that nothing will change unless we stop perpetuating the system we so strongly disapprove of.
We cannot afford to throw an excellent candidate under the bus simply because we fear another candidate will be gifted with victory. If we want things to improve, we voters need to make it happen. We owe it to ourselves to listen to Cutler’s message. And if we think he has a chance of repairing the broken system, then we need to work to make it happen.
Hold your votes until you hear the candidates air their differences in debates, and consider both process and policy. Approach this election with hope for a better collaborative future and not out of fear.
Jeffrey Tindall lives in Durham and is a volunteer for independent Eliot Cutler’s campaign for governor.