Blind Trust

When I was a Freshman in college, I went on a retreat with a Christian group called Wesley Fellowship. Like most retreats there were plenty of ice breaking and team building exercises. One of them had me blindfolded and led around by an older student. The point of the exercise was the need to learn trust in one another. At one point, the other student put something in my hand. Not being able to see, I went with other senses. I immediately tried to taste it but it was a branch off a tree. This elicited much laughter from those who were observing. I learned not so much how to trust others but when NOT to trust blindly.

Democratic constituents and voters need to learn the same thing. We are told we  must follow the party line in order to elect more Democrats; it is for the greater good. It IS true that electing Republicans has resulted in nothing getting done in Washington D.C. and that much mischief is being done on state and local levels. Election laws are being overturned that were designed to protect our right to vote. Gerrymandering creates districts that will heavily favor Republicans. Laws are being passed to eliminate a woman's right to make choices about her reproductive health. Republicans are passing laws written in part or wholly by outside organizations at the behest of moneyed special interests like the Koch Brothers and the oil industry or corporate agriculture or the financial services industry to name just a few. Democracy, as we know it, is being undermined by these special interests who are able, increasingly, to channel contributions to lawmakers in a positions to help them. This is not, however, limited to the Republicans. For instance, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat from Michigan, overwhelmingly receives her funding from major agricultural interests because she is a senior member of the Committee on Agriculture. Representative Gary Peters (MI-12th) sits on the Committee which provides oversight of the Financial Services industry. Hence, his campaign contributions come from, you guess it, the bankers.

Yet we are told to blindly vote for these folks because it is in our best interests. It is true that the Democrats are not overtly attempting to destroy Democracy for political reason. They appear to be protecting the poor, women, students and the elderly. However, that is not always the case as the examples of Stabenow and Peters demonstrate. Debbie Stabenow regularly votes in favor of Bills pushed by "Big Ag". She even voted for a Farm Bill that would have cut SNAP (food stamps) for millions of Americans, many of whom are her constituents. Gary Peters, even though he calls himself a Democrat, supports the Keystone XL Pipeline which would carry the very dirty tar sands oil over environmentally sensitive farmlands. He also supports a Trans-Pacific trade agreement that is pretty well secret in nature. It will, however, greatly aid American investors as well as investors overseas. Again, where does Rep. Peters' campaign funding come from? Largely from the financial services sector. Our leaders in the Democratic party have their own conflicts of interest and we need to be skeptical. Democrats frequently take positions contrary to what major sectors of their constituents believe. And it happens enough to make me question the party line. Not every Democrat deserves our support equally.

What American citizens need to do is learn the lesson of the branch: Do not blindly trust that our leaders are acting in OUR interests, We must learn to make up our own minds, given the facts as we can best determine. We have a voice and we need to use it wisely. We may well still support people like Rep. Peters and Senator Stabenow but it will be because we have weighed the facts not because we are told to do so.