The Will Of The Voters PDF Version

We vote with the expectation that those we elect are bound to carry out the will of the people. Is that democracy in action? It is supposed to be.

This brings some questions to mind. Sometimes asking the most simple questions about any kind of system or procedure uncovers significant findings. Often it identifies exactly what a problem is. Other times – it leads our thinking in the right direction.

Look at the outcome of a process. Then ask. Given the assumptions that are made about what inputs are assumed to generate a given outcome, what if these inputs yield a different outcome than the one intended? Then ask, if what we are assuming is not getting the result we want, what inputs actually would generate the outcome we expect?

Here are some questions about voting. What is the will of voters? Do Americans actually have a will when it comes to government? Are our representatives making an effort to know the will of the people? What about the president? Did any group within the population request the initiatives their leaders are carrying out?

The answers to the last three questions are definitely no’s. The will of the population is certainly ambiguous. I am not sure any lawmaker can figure out what it is.

Lets look at what We The People actually get by asking some more questions. I have looked back over my life span and don’t remember the public actually asking government for anything. How can it be that the U.S. government provides citizens with so much, when they have asked for nothing at all?

There are programs for the poor. The poor never asked for support, ever. We have global warming initiatives and state run health care. Again, citizens never asked for these things. Bill after bill gets passed. None of these bills are brainchilds of the general population.

In a political campaign, each candidate comes up with government initiatives that they believe the public will surely like. Let’s suppose a family is sitting around a living room not necessarily needing or wanting a thing. A vacuum cleaner salesman shows up and convinces them that a new vacuum cleaner will improve their lives. The family ends up with a new vacuum cleaner – but the purchase of the machine was the salesman’s idea, not theirs.

Suppose the same family is in their living room watching a candidate speak. The politician is offering, if elected, to bring to the floor a bill called perhaps – the Wonderful Things For Children Act. Who is going to oppose a bill like that? Prior to the Affordable Car Act, how many Americans were wanting government to get into the healthcare business?

Lets get back to the will of voters.Where is it?

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