Should the politicians or the people who vote for them be held accountable for the economic consequences of the vote? Trickle-down economics is the greatest scam in economic history, yet many of the people who are negatively affected by it also vote for the politicians who support it. However, a snake oil salesman is deemed a perpetrator and the buyer a victim.
The degree to which the buyer of the product is accountable depends on the degree to which he or she understood or should have understood the risks associated with the purchase and chose to buy it anyway. This is the concept behind every financial disclosure and eligibility guideline. Disclose the risks of the product and/or restrict the purchase to buyers with the means to bear the risks and the sophistication to understand the product.
In a democracy, there cannot be such restrictions, as it would violate a citizen’s most essential right. This inherent feature of self-government complicates the process of accountability. The fourth estate, the much-maligned free press, is the mechanism by which a country’s populace can obtain unbiased information.
We are fortunate that in our country the established, well-reputed but not necessarily popular news media is committed to informing the public with truth and facts to the extent possible. Although there is inevitable bias in most forms of communication, the press does generally try to minimize it, if still prone to some sensationalism. Therefore, the culpability does not really lie with them either, as the people have access to generally reliable, objective information.
If there can be no restrictions and if the voting public is receiving accurate information, then the accountability must rest with the voters in the end. A politician shows the country who he or she really is not by rhetoric or gestures, but by his or her vote. Their votes must correspond to their professed positions, and when they do not, they are engaging in a scam.
If the voting public has been scammed, the politician should be subsequently voted out of or removed from office. However, if a politician’s vote aligns with his or her platform, and a citizen votes for the person anyway when those positions are not in his or her or the country’s best interests, then the onus is on the voter.
Based on their votes, many citizens seem convinced that what is holding back the country is not corporate greed but inadequate corporate greed. They seem to believe that there is too much help for the poor not too little. They seem to think that if we only threw out or kept out the immigrants who labor for inadequate pay in undesirable occupations, that would benefit the workers in other industries that have no relation to the immigrants’ industries, and so on. Again, if these are voters’ judgments and values, then the economic consequences of the vote are ultimately theirs to bear.
Therefore, do you know who your politician really is? Do you know how he or she votes? It is each citizen’s responsibility to read honest, well-sourced information to discern who the politician really is. Jesus said that those who follow him know his voice. The question is: can you discern a genuinely righteous voice from the devil’s imitation of it? Because the Christian doctrine is that unless you were truly ignorant or deceived, you and you alone will be held accountable for your vote.
Self-inflicted cruelty? The NYTimes Editorial Board (2020) – https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/opinion/coronavirus-stimulus-senate.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
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