Justin Amash - A Model of Transparency

In our country, there is a long-standing principle of transparency in government at the local, state, and federal levels.  Transparency is enforced through "sunshine laws," meaning that all actions elected officials take must be done in the open light, the public eye, allowing the citizenry to see how and why they are voting on things.  Transparency is crucial in a democracy, if not only to prevent corruption, but to also expose those who are engaged in the corruption.  But what good is it to have members of Congress voting on things in open sessions that no one really sees or knows about unless one is an avid C-Span viewer?  I'll admit that C-Span is slightly less exciting that watching paint dry.  Is there perhaps a better way to provide transparency for the American public?  Wouldn't it be nice if, for example, every member of Congress had a Facebook page where they posted explanations of all of their votes?

Well there is one member of Congress who actually does do this!  He's Justin Amash, republican member of the House of Representatives, elected from the State of Michigan. 

Rep. Amash has a Facebook page where he dedicates time each day to explain why he votes the way he does on every single issue that arises.  And he does so without exception and with great pride.

I encourage everyone to add Rep. Justin Amash to his/her friends list.  Not only do his updates provide insight into his individual beliefs, values, and principles, but they also shed light on the sheer number of issues that members of Congress are faced with, and on how business is conducted in Washington.  You'll see all sorts of laws being proposed by one party or another - some are reasonable, some obvious, some crazy, some wasteful, some...well, you get the point.  There's no end to the type of laws these people propose and vote on day after day.  I didn't realize the depth of it until I started following Amash's Facebook updates. 

There are literally thousands of votes each year, and I can only guess at how much time Rep. Amash spends posting vote explanations on his Facebook page - some days I see upwards of 20 posts from him on various matters that were brought up for a vote.  He puts in a lot of time and effort to explain his votes, and it's a shame that more people aren't paying attention.  His posts are educational in so many respects.

That is what transparency is supposed to look like!

But there are two sides to the transparency coin.  The other side of the coin is our civic duty to stay apprised of what our elected officials are doing.  It doesn't do much good if we don't bother to follow the direction our country is going in.  The votes Rep. Amash and his colleagues cast each day affect our lives and shape our future.  Homework isn't always fun, but it still needs to be done before you go outside and play.  As citizens, we have a duty to do our homework and keep up with the goings-on in our government.  This civic duty of ours seems to have fallen by the wayside over the last 225 or so years, and our corrupt politicians have taken full advantage of our intentional ignorance.  Everyone should dedicate at least a small portion of each day checking out what business has been conducted by our leaders in Washington.  If you don't do your civic homework, how can you honestly complain about anything our government is doing?

It's this complacency that has allowed corruption to flourish and take over the political arena in Washington.  They do the bare minimum to abide by the sunshine laws, and we do even less than the bare minimum in keeping tabs on them.  This all leads to a corrupt mob running a nation of disinterested sheep.

Rep. Amash is doing his part to foster maximum transparency and accountability, and we ought to make use of his daily updates, and pressure more members of Congress to provide the same service.  Instead, we let them hide their bought and sold votes behind the "transparency" of C-Span which nobody watches.

So check out Amash's FB page/updates, push for your own representatives to provide the same service, and do your civic duty by staying informed about what's going on in Washington.  It's unfortunate that we have to force our elected officials to abide by the tenets of transparency, but it may be even more unfortunate that most of us are too lazy or complacent or disinterested to care.

Thank you Rep. Amash for you service!  And shame on the rest of you who refuse to follow his sterling example!