| Politicians who are either unwilling
or incapable of defending their strongly held positions on abortion
commit an inexcusable offense against their constituents in
our representative democracy. Healthy policy debate is not possible
in this content-free environment and it is time to demand representation
with justification; it is time for politicians to engage
the debate.
 Almost
one hundred and fifty years ago Abraham Lincoln and Stephen
Douglas held a series of seven debates that were dedicated
to the most contentious social issue of their day: slavery.
These ~20 hours of detailed political discourse are an example
of the kind of debate that is an essential part of a democracy.
These debates allowed the citizens of Illinois to choose who
could best represent them as an informed citizenry.
Sadly, our democracy has descended to
the point where politicians are not required to justify their
positions either during a campaign or in written correspondence
with their constituents. Sound bites and bumper sticker arguments
are not satisfactory and we must demand more from our elected
representatives.
This site was created to document one
constituent's attempt to get their representatives to perform
the most fundamental process of a democracy: to engage the
debate.
[The full text of the
Lincoln/Douglas debates can be found at nps.gov/liho/debates.htm]
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SCORING
Form letter reply or no reply at all.
It is not clear that anyone has even read the correspondence
beyond possibly noting the topic. A complete disregard
of a constituent's specific questions especially after
repeated attempts. A complete lack of engagement in
the democratic process.
Attempts to address the specific points
raised by the constituent but in a demonstrably unreasoned
manner, whether sincere or through deliberate rationalization.
A valid, rational argument that places
truth above politics and partisanship. Fully engaged
in the democratic process.
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"I
have a right to claim that if a man says he knows a thing, then he must show
how he knows it. I always have a right to claim this, and it is not satisfactory
to me that he may be 'conscientious' on the subject." - Abraham
Lincoln debating Stephen Douglas, 8/21/1858
A citizen attempts to engage the abortion debate with:
FEDERAL:
Senator Dianne
Feinstein, U.S. Senate, CA
Senator Barbara Boxer,
U.S. Senate, CA
Representative Barbara
Lee, U.S. Congress, CA
STATE:
Governor Gray Davis,
CA
Senator Don Perata,
CA Senate District 09
RECOMMENDATIONS
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| Senator
Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senate, CA |
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19
Contacts: After nearly two years and 19 contacts
with Senator Feinstein's office, she has refused to
engage. Over that time her office has replied essentially
with 3 form letters which, of course, do not address
any of my stated concerns. Such complete disregard for
a constituents genuine concerns on an issue of such
great importance is inexcusable from a person who purports
to represent.
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Senator
Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senate, CA
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22
Contacts: After nearly 2 years of nothing but
form letters in reply to my queries, I finally made
some limited progress. The Senator's position was described
as using viability (as determined by the woman and her
doctor) as the line where rights should be granted.
I then replied with a letter describing several arguments
refuting viability as a rational line where rights should
be granted and in response the office reverted to form
letters.
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| Representative
Barbara Lee, CA |
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23
Contacts: The office
of Congresswoman Barbara Lee refuses to engage in the
democratic process. After not engaging for two full
years after repeated attempts, Barbara Lee's Legislative
Director apologized for the lack of an adequate response
to my queries and then also failed to reply herself.
The office of Barbara Lee is either unwilling or unable
to reply to my questions; neither option is worthy of
an elected representative in what is supposed to be
a representative democracy.
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| Recalled
Governor Gray Davis, CA |
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9
Contacts: The office of Governor Davis fails
to live up to the Governor's own stated principle on
engaging with citizens. Governor Davis stated that,
"an informed and engaged citizenry is essential
to the democratic process" and yet his own Constituent
Affairs Department repeatedly agreed that it is perfectly
sufficient for the Governor to take a position and offer
absolutely no justification for it. Governor Davis,
if you believe what you say about the essence of Democracy
then please live up to your words and engage this debate.
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| Senator
Don Perata, CA Senate District 09 |
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38
Contacts: In what many might consider an outright
act of political intimidation, the office of Senate
Majority Leader Don Perata has refused not only to engage
this debate, his office has chosen to waste the time,
energy and the financial resources of the California
Highway Patrol in an apparent attempt to silence rational
questioning of his positions by this constituent. His
office did not attempt even a single official, non-form
letter reply after repeated attempts over nearly two
years.
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Recommendations:
Although I have not heard the excuse made
in any of my contacts with these representatives, some may
claim that answering such detailed questions would be too
much of a drain on staff resources.
For this reason I would like to recommend
that those who purport to represent others and take clear
stands on issues of great importance should make their reasoning
clear by writing it down in a white paper of sorts. This could
then be posted on the representative's web site or simply
mailed to any who seek a more detailed explanation of the
representative's position.
By having such information available it
would actually reduce the impact on the representative's
staff for they would no longer have to play these cat and
mouse games of pretending to reply over and over. The quickest
way to have a discussion is to simply get straight to the
point.
On the other hand, if the representative
does not wish to explain why they have taken such a firm stand
on a given issue then perhaps they should stop pretending
to represent others in this representative democracy and find
another line of work.
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Please send your comments and
questions to
info@EngageTheDebate.com
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