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To some degree, to the victor go the spoils. No one should worry too much about committee membership in Congress if the Democratic majority would reach 60 Senate seats. A supermajority in the upper house of Congress would probably make committee membership a moot point. But for any majority below that losing membership on the committees or playing any sort of musical chairs will certainly influence legislation over at least the next couple of years.

Senator Harry Reid makes it all sound so fair by referring to the numbers/ratios in the 103rd Congress. That’s nice, Harry, but who is going to believe this is anything more than the transfer of power being peaceful in terms of no coup d’etat but potentially violent in terms of its effects on American citizens? Oh yes, members of the Democratic party and their supporters have been heard embracing the election outcome as a ‘mandate’ for change or hope for ‘working families’ or whatever.

While a mandate may be the granting of permission to those elected with a substantial margin of victory the right to establish policies there may be some difference of opinion on what that includes or permits even among those who support the newly elected representatives. The current example would be those of a liberal persuasion urging elected Democrats to move hard to the left versus those suggesting a middle ground.

The Democrats as well as some Republicans have a tendency to refer to the people they represent or are currently working for as ‘middle class’ or ‘working families’ as alluded to above. That is bothersome. Some are elected at the local level and represent a local constituency. Similar situations apply to those at the state and national level with broader coverage for the citizens they directly represent. Especially at the national level but to some degree at all levels elected representation should be concerned about all the people. You represent Americans and you represent all of them. One thing this historic election should have made clear if anyone was unsure. Why don’t you try stating what your objectives are and attend to the affairs of government for all the people.

For instance, if you say you are doing something for working families what does that tell those who are unemployed? If you do something for the middle class at the expense of others what does that say about your solution? For years it was typical to hear people lament that Republicans favored the rich and Democrats favored the poor. Maybe the rich and poor should not be used as political footballs to justify your questionable policies and legislation, mandate or no mandate.

You can be as successful as you want if you don’t care who gets the credit. If you want Barack Obama to be successful, for once, go to Washington and get some work done that benefits everyone and not just the flavor of the month.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Reid looks to chop Republican committee seats
By Alexander Bolton
Posted: 11/08/08 01:32 PM [ET]

Senate Democratic leaders plan to cut Republican committee seats to reflect the new balance of power in the upper chamber, according to Democratic aides.

Republicans will lose at least one seat on most committees and may lose as many as two on some of the larger panels, such as the powerful Appropriations committee.

One aide said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will likely follow the model set at the start of the 103rd Congress, when Democrats held a 57-seat Senate majority, the same margin they are expected to hold when the results of the election become final. The aide said leaders are not likely to add Democratic seats to achieve the proper ratios.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 9th, 2008 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, wordpress, Politics, election, GOP, Democrats, News Media, Law, Opinion, Reid, Congress, Legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.