Congressional Ethics: What We Should Do
Should outside agencies be allowed to file ethics complaints against members of Congress? The question should be, “When shouldn’t they?”.
After years of living under English rule without anyone to speak for our rights, some of the most well respected, brilliant men of the time gathered together and wrote a document that we still adhere to. The Declaration of Independence. They acted; speaking out against oppression. Declaring in one voice that they would not stand for corruption, injustice, and tyranny. They questioned authority and gained a nation based on freedom for all. Freedom to pray in whatever churches we choose, and to say and write whatever we feel we need to. Freedom from the unethical and tyrannical behavior of an unsympathetic monarch.
They spoke out. Why shouldn’t we?
To Err is Human
Every human being makes mistakes. It is in our nature to do so. But should we as Americans sit back and watch passively as our elected officials act in ways that we would not? Should we say nothing simply because we elected them and should trust that they know what they are doing? Of course not!
They should be acting in our best interest. They should be doing what we elected them to do, not whatever they want to do, forgetting what they are there for. If we do not agree with what they are doing, then we have a responsibility to do something about it. We are the ones who should be standing up and saying “Stop!”.
It is our right. It is our ultimate responsibility. It is, in truth, a duty.
Checks and Balances
Our government was designed to be a system of checks and balances. No one branch should become too powerful as the other two branches should check the actions of each other, to balance out the bad with the good. However, when one branch breaks down and becomes lodged in a miasma of unethical behavior then the whole system can eventually break down. We as the citizens of the United States must see that this does not happen. If it requires outside groups to file formal complaints in order to root out the sources, then so be it.
We have the right to fair representation, and we should see that that representation is indeed fair.
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