No soup for you!

Oh the wonderful freedom of a powerless minority in government!

You can, as a member, use your bully horn to shout outrage and indignity at the majority, while singing soothing choruses to the faithful followers who offer their own “Amen”s and “Hurrah”s and “You tell ‘em, brother”s, without any regard to responsibility or consequences.

When an elected representative can be certain that their position cannot prevail, they are then free to declare whatever crime or blame or failure the others have committed, knowing full well that their constituents will reap the benefits of whatever they are against, while they can stand on “principles”, rather than for them.

Most citizens can tell you how to improve government even though they know it will never happen. We, as it turns out, are the powerless majority in government. So we here will offer one more reform that will never be made:

When a member of Congress votes against legislation that provides a benefit, their constituents should be left out.

Like so:

Mr. Franklin declares - as instructed by his party bosses - that the COVID relief bill is misguided and wasteful, so the citizens of District 15 become ineligible for its funds.

He is, after all, representing them, and his principles won’t allow him to vote with the Democrats, so in order to make his “Nay” matter, he should be willing to deny the effects to his district. This would also allow the bill’s funding to be reduced, thus reducing the “waste” that Mr. Franklin is so concerned about.

Seems like a win-win … for him! Seems like having it both ways!