In Touch with Constituents?

John McCain said it best during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, in St. Paul Minnesota several weeks ago, when he said: “Their lives should matter to the people they elect to office. They matter to me.”, referring to how he has and will fight for the American people.

Having experienced a very difficult time some years ago, this hit a very personal chord with me. During this time I sought the help of our elected officials and just started to write letters to my state Governor, congressman, senators, Department of State, Department of Justice and even the Whitehouse.

After doing some research on committees and sub-committees a list was made, as well as adding to the list the candidates running for president. The final list included Senators Barack Obama (D), Bill Nelson (D), Blanche Lincoln (D), Bob Bennett (R), Charles Grassley (R), Charles Schumer (D), Chris Dodd (D), George Voinovich (R), Hillary Clinton (D), Joe Biden (D), John Cornyn (R), John McCain (R), Johnny Isakson (R), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), Lamar Alexander (R), Mark Pryor (D), Mel Martinez (R), Mike Crapo (R), Mitch McConnell (R), Orrin Hatch (R), Patrick Leahy (D), Richard Shelby (R), Sam Brownback (R), Ted Kennedy (D), a governor, and two congressman.

Now this list was not hand picked but its interesting to see the composition regarding their party affiliation, which basically amounts to 10 Democratic Senators and 14 Republican Senators making a total of 24 Senators.

At that dark time and not knowing fully well how government operated, I wrote to all these elected officials; of which only five replied.

Three of the letters offered support and also noted very kindly that the Senator from the state of residence, be given the opportunity to assist the constituents they were elected to represent. One of the letters mentioned how busy the Senator was dealing with its constituents. The last letter was of course from my state Senator.

So should our lives matter to our elected officials?

Should one of their many assistants take the time to read and reply a two paragraph letter acknowledging a request for help?

As it turns out the majority of our elected officials do not seem to think so. Out of the five Senators who replied, four were republican senators and one was democratic. Putting numbers to it 10pct of democratic elected officials responded and almost 30pct of republican elected officials did the same.

The only presidential candidate who responded to my outcry requesting assistance with a federal matter.!

Senator John McCain.

So is this what they mean by out of touch with regular people?