How did bad politicians do so many good things

Politicians do good things! How is that possible?

It sure seems most people think something like this…

Everything is bad and getting worse. Politicians don’t care what I think. Politicians never do the right thing. They always serve the big special interests. There’s no way to change anything.

Politicians are moving in the right direction. We’ve recently reported these key indicators…

Fewer kids are in politically-managed state schools and more children are being homeschooled
Fewer people are being incarcerated for violating unconstitutional political dictates – the prison population is falling dramatically

We could also add that drug prohibition is fading fast!

Marijuana is now legal in some way or another in most parts of the country
Voters and politicians are starting to decriminalize or legalize other substances like psilocybin
Congress is edging closer to joining these trends

How Is Good News Possible?

How is any of this possible if everything is bad and getting worse, politicians don’t care about people like us, they never do the right things, they always serve special interests, and there’s no way to change anything?

Could it be that despair and apathy are unwarranted?

Of course, there’s still bad news. Congress continues to spend and borrow recklessly, and our last message reported how the 5th Circuit Appeals Court let two cops get away with burning a man alive.

Still, if we want to maintain that politicians always do the wrong thing, and there is no hope, we have to explain how…

Some politicians in Colorado outlawed qualified immunity
Other politicians in New Mexico are about to do the same thing
New York politicians defied the police union to make charges of police misconduct part of the public record (so much for always bowing to special interests)
A federal court just backed-up the decision to make records of police misconduct public

This is big stuff. Politicians and judges did these things, despite claims that they are allegedly always evil.

We might also add that we’ve had some big success of our own…

We’ve repeatedly managed to get several powerful bills introduced in Congress — the One Subject at a Time Act, the Read the Bills Act, and the Write the Laws Act
Our legal briefs brought landmark Supreme Court decisions in the Citizens United and Jones cases.

Maybe despair and apathy aren’t warranted after all!

Sure, many politicians are pathological people-pleasers. Some might even be sociopaths. Nearly all of them have bad philosophies. But they also have mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, sons and daughters — people they love and to whom they want to deliver or leave a prosperous and peaceful country. In other words…

Maybe most politicians aren’t evil on purpose. We can, as demonstrated by the litany of good news described above, persuade enough of them to do the right thing.

Shouldn’t we always start with persuasion instead of secession, rioting, or revolution? Indeed, shouldn’t persuasion come before even voting. Please consider this question…

How many Americans have ever bothered to tell a politician what they want?

The answer is minuscule. Tens of millions will complain on Facebook or Twitter. There, it can do little good. Many of them will add a drop to the sea of votes. But almost none of them take the simple step of asking a real-live politician for what they want.

That’s what makes you so special.

Most members of Downsize DC have spent time asking for what they want. We got Congress to introduce our bills by asking! It’s how we got co-sponsors for them. And now, with the advent of Agenda Setters — with breakthrough strategies like The 300, and Option Activism — we’re going to be even more direct about asking for what we want.

If you like this way of thinking about things, please help us realize our goals…

Contribute or Pledge

If you cannot give today, please encourage a friend to join you and become one of The 300 for one (or more) of these issues: https://downsizedc.org/action/

Make sure they know about our Option Activism strategy – that they won’t take wasted action, but will instead only act once there are 300 other people, in their district, ready to visit the congressional office with them.

Jim Babka, President
Agenda Setters by Downsize DC

Today’s Action: Help us find The 300