Monday, March 3, 2014

You should question those elected...

Most people complain about their elected representatives when they do not act according to what the constituent wanted.  However, they also fail most times to put this complaint in writing and send it to said elected official.  While I have seen elected officials participate in meet and greet events, generally unless you are donating money to a campaign fund you will get lip service at best.  I am sure that there are exceptions to that observation, but I bet it is correct about most elected officials at the state and federal level.  So when you see an elected official actually expending effort to get that feedback from his constituency, it is always interesting to see who complains.

This brings us to the lovely area of Kent in the UK.  A local MP has decided to poll his constituents regarding the oft mentioned "UK in/out EU Referendum" as to their views on the subject.  Using only money donated for this purpose and volunteers to assist, he is asking his constituency (about 450K people) if they would vote yea or nay on staying in the EU.  Simple enough, not legally binding, but would yield data on the subject not currently to be had.  This is not a random poll at a supermarket or train station, this is a question sent to every household in the constituency.

What is amusing is the response by the various politicians.  One party complains about the "publicity stunt" while the other compliments him because they feel that it will only bolster their argument and eventually, their cause.  Either way, they fail to see the point.  The point is that the politician is actually asking the people what they think about a fairly important subject.  It is something that should be done more often, especially in our new digitally connected world.

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