Post AbfgFc5AcCsPrzijLc by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
(DIR) More posts by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
(DIR) Post #AbfgFVoHw3o8PtmACW by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T16:55:01Z
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A popular slogan in the United States, especially around election day, is that "politicians work for us." It's hard to pin down a precise meaning, but it's something along the lines of "we pay their salaries through taxes and we live in a representative democracy so they should enact laws that reflect the will of the people who elected them."1/n#USPolitics
(DIR) Post #AbfgFWzJYYDo4NwU1g by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T16:56:04Z
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This is a dangerous misunderstanding of how American political power works. The fact that politicians salaries are paid by taxes is irrelevant. For instance, the salaries of cops and teachers are paid by taxes and yet no one thinks that means they should do what taxpayers want. Their duties are defined by laws, which are written by politicians and enforced by courts. What taxpayers want cops and teachers to do is irrelevant except as mediated through politicians.2/n
(DIR) Post #AbfgFXkohwDeRiAQ4G by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T16:56:57Z
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But in the US politicians' duties are also defined by laws, also enforced by courts. For instance in California there are laws requiring politicians to provide access to public records and to not waste public money. If politicians violate these duties the immediate remedy is to go to court and ask a judge to order them to do their job, which sometimes works out. Politicians also usually have to take an oath of office, where they usually promise to faithfully execute their duties and to support the state or federal constitution or city charter.3/n
(DIR) Post #AbfgFYYRjPuyvdO3QO by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T16:57:57Z
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But constitutions and city charters never include a duty to represent citizens or to do what voters want. Nowhere in the United States is there any legal requirement that politicians represent the interests of anyone. Like cops and teachers they're only required to do what the law requires them to do, which literally does not include representing anyone in any sense of the word. No one can make them do this so it's at best a social expectation, not any kind of requirement.4/n
(DIR) Post #AbfgFZS6OURBiFQVAu by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T16:58:53Z
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This makes perfect sense when we consider the history of American representative democracy. The first governments in North America were charged with managing colonial exploitation. They were staffed by actual planters and concerned themselves with slave control and economic issues that affected the plantation economy. It wasn't necessary to require them to represent their constituents because the people actually running them -- the politicians -- were also planters.5/n
(DIR) Post #AbfgFaYsGnRt9XbQMy by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T16:59:33Z
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Over the course of the nineteenth century capitalists, some of them planters and others involved in more modern forms of exploitation like industry and real estate, gradually withdrew from direct participation in government, although never completely, and began to rely on professional politicians to handle their affairs for them. As more and more people were given the vote these capitalists and their proxy politicians developed ever more sophisticated methods to retain power.6/n
(DIR) Post #AbfgFc5AcCsPrzijLc by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T17:00:09Z
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At no point in this process was representing voters made a requirement. Why would it have been? To have done so would contradict the actual essential function of American government at all levels, which is to manage exploitation. If spreading rumors about how politicians are meant to represent citizens supports this project then they'll spread those rumors, but they will never make it an actual job requirement.7/7
(DIR) Post #AbfgFdJk1W7thTXshM by Aviva_Gary@noc.social
2023-11-10T18:06:49Z
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@AdrianRiskin Is this not the same as the difference between being a democracy and playing one on tv? (I think you're right btw... but just curious)
(DIR) Post #AbfjQgQD7bQeNNX3QW by AdrianRiskin@kolektiva.social
2023-11-10T18:42:40Z
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@Aviva_Gary I'm not exactly sure what you mean. But if you mean in an actual democracy elected politicians are required to support the interests of the people who elect them there's never been one at any level in the US.
(DIR) Post #AbfjjnFByrin2MUUGu by Aviva_Gary@noc.social
2023-11-10T18:46:03Z
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@AdrianRiskin This is correct