Posted on 07/09/2009 8:48:13 AM PDT by AmericanHunter
The current (July 20) issue of The New American includes our first congressional scorecard on the 111th Congress, which convened in January. The scorecard, entitled “The Freedom Index,” rates congressmen based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.
Our newly published “Freedom Index” shows how every member of the House and Senate voted on key issues, such as the TARP funding to bail out financial institutions, SCHIP (children’s health insurance), the federal budget, and the economic stimulus package.
The average House score for this index is a dismal 38 percent and the average Senate score is an even worse 35 percent. Three representatives earned perfect scores: John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.), and Ron Paul (R.-Texas). Nobody scored 100 percent in the Senate, where Tom Colburn (R-Okla.) was the top scorer at 90 percent. The overall results should be much higher, of course, considering that our standard for rating lawmakers is the U.S. Constitution and every member of Congress takes an oath to uphold the Constitution.
One of the reasons for the low overall House and Senate scores is the socialistic voting records of many Republican lawmakers, despite the GOP's conservative reputation. One indicator of the leftward shift of the Republican Party is the fact that the 40-percent score of Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vt.), an avowed socialist, is the same score garnered by two GOP senators — Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and George Voinovich (Ohio) — and a higher score than that earned by three other GOP senators — Susan Collins (Maine), Richard Lugar (Ind.), and Olympia Snowe (Maine).
The Democratic Party is also becoming more socialistic (helping to mask Republican socialism), and socialist Bernie Sanders’ score of 40 percent is actually better than the Senate average of 35 percent.
Please examine how your own U.S. representative and senators voted on each key issue in the current “Freedom Index” as well as overall. To download a free copy of the “Freedom Index” from the July 20 issue of TNA, click here. We also encourage readers to commend legislators for their constitutional votes and to urge improvement where needed.
To email your U.S. representative and senators on selected issues, click here.
No big surprises here. My senators rank 20% and 10% (Specter and Casey), and my representative a 0 (Schwartz). No wonder I feel unrepresented. I still call them regularly to give them a piece of my mind, but it always feels futile.
A vast majority of the rankings were abysmal. No surprises for me either.
Ron Paul isn’t right about many things but he does understand freedom. For a congressman that should be their most important attribute.
Well, my Senators are pitiful, of course — 10% Kohl and 30% Fengold.
My Congressman is better (although he’s wrong, wrong, wrong on ANWR) 90% for Sensenbrenner and 90% for Ryan (my other favorite). Other than those two, the entire Wisconsin delegation is pitiful.
"Heres your sign."
Kucinich gets a rating of 40, and is one of the most freedom-loving democrats in either house. LOL!
Taylor, the Dem from Mississippi gets a 60, and seems to get the title of most-conservative democrat in Congress
Only two other dems are more “freedom-loving” than Kucinich:
Bright and Griffith, both from Alabama and both with a 50 rating.
Sign? What are you talking about?
Queen Sheila, my “rep”, got a big fat ZERO. Well deserved.
“Queen Sheila, my “rep”, got a big fat ZERO. Well deserved.”
Well deserved indeed. What a disgrace. Unfortunately, none of my Michigan reps had a very good showing either. It makes you wonder just who these idiots are really representing.
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