Alben was a former Kentucky Senator, and hid a genius I.Q. behind a congressman BillyBob type accent and demeanor. Does that sound similar to anyone we know?
Alben described his run for the Senate. He ventured to the home of an old Kentucky farmer to ask for his and his kinsfolks votes. The old farmer allowed as how he and his kin were not going to vote for Alben this time.
Barkley was taken aback. He said to the old farmer, "Do you remember when I was county commissioner and your house got flooded?" Alben went on to say, "You came to me and I got the county to dredge out the creek and put the removed creek bottom on your side to create a levy, Remember?" The old farmer admitted that was true. Alben then mentioned that when his boy got in trouble, that Alben had gone to the prosecutor and got the boy a plea bargain that was only probation. The old farmer agreed that was so. Alben then said,"Do you remember when I was in the state legislature I got the highway going by your house designated a state highway ... paved double lanes ... and scheduled for primary snow removal?" The farmer remembered. Alben then reminded the old farmer that when he was in Congress the Social Security Administration screwed up his checks, and Alben had gotten it straightened out including all back pay.. The farmer allowed as how that was so.
Then Alben asked,"And you still are not going to vote for me?" The old farmer scratched his head and replied, "That's right." Alben asked, "Why?" And the old farmer said,"You ain't done nothing fer me lately!"
Alben was making the point that constituent services are important. And they are. Nicolle is making the point that an agenda is important too. I am certain an individual agenda is of little value other than as a campaign tool. A candidate's philosophy of government... YES SIR. A candidates personal agenda? EXPLETIVE DELETED NO!!!!
I would say to Nicolle that the chances of a congressman setting a national agenda that has a chance of being passed is roughly equal to a snowballs survival rate on a hot day in Hades. The least effective congressman is one with an agenda of his own. That texas congress critter Ron Paul or Paul Ron or what ever the heck his name is, is a prime example of tilting at windmills. Ron Paul couldn't get congress to pass toilet paper if he had terminal diahrea... and I think he does.
To implement a personal agenda a congressman must get the leadership of the house to support it, and 60 votes in the senate for it and the president to want to sign it and the supreme court not to overturn it. AIN'T NO Congress Critter ever lived that can get that done. We have enough fools tilting at windmills! The national government is a team sport... WE need team leaders and players ... not prima donnas with an agenda. The Republican party has an abundance of McCains. What it needs are some McAbles,
Doable agendas come in two flavors... those put forward by a president and those put forward by the party that does not hold the presidency.. but wants to use its agenda to get to be the party that holds the presidency.
What a congressman has an outside chance of doing is to influence some part of his parties agenda. He will find at least half of his parties congress critters are trying to do the same thing.
What Republican congressmen can do, and make a difference in the present situation, is do what he can to get the presidents agenda enacted. That is not a problem in the house. It is a huge problem in the senate.
To boil it down being a Republican congressman is being one member on a roughly 220 member team. Asking a candidate for the outfield on that team who is going to be his starting pitcher is a silly question. He will not get to decide who pitches. If he is good enough he will get to start in right field... not manage the team. His job is to get hits for his side and catch ball hit to his area of the outfield.
If I were to be able to elect the most effective congressperson I could image here is what he or she would do. My congress person would have great communications skills both at writing, speaking and making TV appearances to further public support for those parts of the presidents agenda he deemed most worthy of support. He would attract national attention for his ability to help his parties team win passage of his parties agenda. He would attract national attention for his ability to use innovative methods to solve his districts problems. He would attract this attention because his methods could be applied to other districts. National attention EQUALS influence for both the national agenda and his local district. I am not talking about being the party pit bull. I am talking about providing solutions for district problems through inovative actions.
What can a congressman do for his district other than get the Farmer his social security check on time? First he can use the prestige and influence to coordinate efforts to achieve district wide goals such as job creation.
Here are a few obvious points on Education and jobs. Employers create tax base. Tax base creates money for education. .. It will be good education if the right people are on school boards. Congressmen do not elect school boards. Congressmen can help attract employers.
In the coming good times many firms will be looking to expand...everything from a retail chain looking for location a distribution center to a software firm looking for a site near the mountains and within driving distance of the ocean.. to a local person or group wanting to do a startup. And I can't emphasize how important local support for the local job creators is. The auto industry was created in the Michigan area because that is where Henry Ford lived. The biggest hunk of the PC software industry is in the state of Washington because that is where Bill Gates is from.
A congressman should make himself available to help local Chambers of Commerce and local Directors of Economic Development sell any prospective employer on the area. I would suggest a candidate for congressman start with the help of local Directors of Economic development, and mayors where DOEDs do not exist. Get each of them to contribute to a data base of all property for sale zoned for commercial or industrial use. I would have them ask local real estate associations to try to list such properties at a known price good for a year at a time. I would ask them to get local builders to commit to construction costs for warehouse and light industrial buildings... So the database could quote land and building cost estimates in minutes not days. I would get value added to goods per dollar of labor figures for each of the zip codes in the district, average labor rates for skilled and unskilled workers, labor availability figures, and list transportation availability such are truck, train, air etc. I would try to PRE coordinate zoning and building permits etc.. Get local people to committ to make things happen quickly. Every firm I have ever worked with on expansion wants it YESTERDAY... Figure out how to give it to them and they will locate in your district.
I would have my congressperson organize a meeting with every lending institution in the district to find which ones were interested in financing expansion of the local business base... Including the ones willing to put their money where their mouth is. Find out their criteria for loans... So you can tell a prospect what they have to do to qualify.
Next I would research the federal programs that can help the establishment or expansion of jobs. Tie that information together and have my ideal candidate to pledge if elected to have a staff person be in charge of helping local firms, either new or existing, get all the help in expansion that can be legally given.
Then in every speech made in every communication with community leaders, I would ask what can be done to make government less of an obstruction to job growth and what it could do to foster job growth. Oh yes... It is important to never use the word INDUSTRIAL GROWTH.. it is always JOB GROWTH or INCREASING THE NUMBER OF HIGH PAYING JOBS.... but you knew that already.
Then my prospective congressman would try to organize a District job growth committee in each zip code in the district to handle two way communications between the congressman and the community as well as work with your office and prospective employers. They would use their local clout to make things happen. In an expanding economy prospective employers want it NOW. They have customers who want services or products yesterday. Fix it so things can happen quickly and you will beat out better but much slower competitors. Put people on these committtees that have somthing to gain by the creation of new jobs.
Each committee would be informed about existing programs and proposed programs that could help that community to have a more prosperous future. The committee would also be charged with telling the congressman what they felt the federal government could do or stop doing to help. It would also be sounding board for the congressman's proposals as well.
I would give access to this database, perhaps on the net, to every government, real estate agent, Chamber of C etc in the congressional district. I would use this database and organization to get on every TV and radio talk show known ot man. It could be used to promote this job friendly district. We can have your firm in a postion to start hiring with in weeks not months would be the pitch.
A congressman to have real clout needs to do new and innovative things to help his district. Things that expand the level of services to constituents that go beyond runing interference with the bureaucrats for individual government benefits or new welfare programs. A congressman whose office sets a new standard can be the man whom many other congress members start to emulate. That would give a congressman lots of influence and the experience to help contribute to an agenda that might be passed.
If you want to set an agenda, you had best be president or Speaker of the house when a Democrat is president.
The ideas expressed here are just to demonstrate a technique that I have not completely thought through. But as Alben said some 53 years ago, "You aint done nothin' for me lately." has to be countered with "Here is what I will do for you if elected and you can depend on my doing it." It has to be what the kinsfolks want done and it has to be believable. I do know that Harry Truman and Alben carried Ohio by 7,107 votes out of darn near 3 million in 1948. And if Dewey had offered to do dang near anything for Ohio voters besides looking extremely presidential, Thomas E. would have been president come 1949.
Here are couple of 'tatorisms.
As my eldest daughter says, "Do not ask Dad what time it is. He will describe his version of the inner workings of all time keeping machines from the sundial through digital watches. By the time he tells you the time, you have missed your appointment by several hours."
'tator
I am gratified that someone with the experience and common sense of Common Tator has agreed to help me in my efforts. This discussion of what a Congressman can do, as opposed to what he cannot do, is an example of this gentleman's thinking.
That story about the farmer who said, "You haven't done anything for me lately," is legendary. And Tator's discussion from that basis keys to the two bullets at the heart of my effort -- jobs and education.
Tator wrote what he did without discussing it with me, and that's as it should be. In general, he is right that a single Member of a 435-Member body cannot accomplish a great deal on his own. His effectiveness is in being an exceptional player on the President's team (when his Party holds the White House).
Tator's commentary, however, contains an important caveat. That Congressman chooses the parts of the Administation's program that he wants to advance and speak for. It is not a slavish yes to everything the President wants. For example, Senator Specter is either at the margin of effectiveness because he "misses too many team meetings," or he is beyond that margin, take your pick. I agree with Tator that Representative Paul has put himself out of the loop by straying too far, too often, on too many issues.
I agree with Tator on efforts at economic development. Long ago, I worked in that area with a Regional Planning Council. The specific needs in a largely rural District are very different from those in a metropolitan area. But the approach, the philosophy of bringing the major players together -- both private and public -- to hammer out agreements that will produce the result of more employers and therefore more jobs, is the same in both areas.
The only major disagreement I have with Tator, and this is a matter of emphasis, is his focus on economic development uber alles. I will put an equal amount of my time and energy into education, because I have followed the subject for decades. I am appalled at the billions of dollars being wasted year by year. I am appalled at the number of students who are being cheated out of the education they are capable of receiving if in competent schools with competent teachers. And I am appalled at the long term effects of this widespread failure will visit on every community where it occurs, in the years to come.
I say that on the very day that the results from the public school tests in North Carolina have been released. The public school in my town, Highlands, (which my step-daughter attends) ranked far above the national average, far above the state average, and at the top of the list for all public schools in Western Carolina.
That news is terrific, for the parents and students in my town. But it emphasizes that other schools in other areas are failing, and that local school boards everywhere need to have the freedom to improve their own schools, and help from federal and state officials to do so.
Speaking as a former engineer, no problem can ever be solved until the people who must deal with it UNDERSTAND ITS NATURE AND CAUSES. The "edukashun" unions have long muddied the waters by claiming that the problems in education stem from a lack of money. Citizens of all types are beginning to recognize the big lie. Playing the role I can to bring that lie crashing down and breaking the strangle hold that the unions have on public schools and tax money is therefore essential to what I want to do, and a major part of what I will say to parents and taxpayers in my District.
I don't know how many people are paying attention to this multi-faceted discussion, but I know those that are are finding it a primer in what government means in a practical sense in the real world.
John / Billybob