Representatives Disrespect Constituents By Boycotting SOTU
I wrote this article on another site and decided to share it here as well. As Meeks was one of those that refused to do his duty, I used his picture as the image for this discussion.
It has been over a week ago that Donald Trump gave his State of The Union address and something has been bugging me. That something was all of the Democrats that boycotted Trump's speech and the reasons why they did so. Did they all forget that they have a DUTY to attend the speech even of someone they completely disagree with because they are there to represent EVERYONE in their districts? Did they forget that if you want to do what is best for your people that you need to listen to opposing views to make sure that the best interests and actions are being addressed for your districts? And, did they forget that they were elected to do a job that requires getting down and dirty to make sure the best interests of their districts were followed?
Here is an article from Heavy.com that lists the members of Congress that refused to show up and why:
Those members of Congress were Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Frederica Wilson, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep Gregory Meeks, Rep. Bobby Rush, Rep. Danny Davis, and Rep. Albiro Sires. These members of Congress did not give illness or some other reasonable excuse for why they weren't attending. Instead, they claimed it was because of Donald Trump himself and his comments. That shows that NONE of them are responsible enough or really respectful enough of their voters to even show up to work on the behalf of their constituents. So, they don't like or respect Trump; but even that shouldn't prevent you from showing up to listen to what he had to say as his agenda directly affects EVERYONE in the United States.
Frankly, this lack of respect for the constituents of their districts shows that they do not deserve to be in office and should be voted out at the very least in the primaries for their respective districts this year. Or, they should immediately resign due to their lack of fitness to do their duties to their constituents.
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I find the disrespect of Congressmen towards the people who elected them highly insulting. Luckily, I have not been disrespected by anyone other than Obama, with his "Midwesterners and rural Pennsylvanians cling to their guns and bibles." statement. I did live near to John Murtha's district when he publicly convicted several Marines of murder, before the courts cleared them of the charges, then called his entire district "rednecks", but was re-elected. These Representatives I put in the same class as Murtha, Democrats that have no respect for the very people that elected them and should not ever be in office because of it. They forget they are there to work for the PEOPLE of the district, not hold petty grudges against someone from a different party. Do your jobs and show up to work unless you are sick.
Very good article Tom and in complete agreement. Not everyone likes their President. Doing what you should do is what adults do.
Perhaps they can have a separate daycare room for them to have time out next SOTU.
Maybe they should do what the universities do, and create "Safe Spaces" for them to hide in.
If they did that, then there would be nothing being done as the Democrats would always be in those "Safe Spaces" and there wouldn't be a quorum on the floors of the Senate and the House.
I could not disagree with you more. The SOTU speech has nothing to do with putting forward their constituents needs, there is no forum for them to present their grievances. Republicans showed how little respect they have for the SOTU address when one of their members screamed "YOU LIE!" at President Obama during his address. Notice none of the Democrats who attended did that even though Trump is a renowned liar having passed the 2,000th lie mark already. If Trump wants to be respected then he should start earning that respect by getting educated about the job he's been failing at and stop insulting all our allies while giving comfort to our enemies. Those Democrats who chose not to attend were doing exactly what their constituents wanted, to send a message to the Commander in-Competent that he can't continue to disparage and demean Democrat Americans and still expect some royal reception. And for Trump to call those Democrats who weren't cheering him on "treasonous" was beyond the pale. The opposite was actually true as any patriotic American who has seen this monumental narcissist continue to truly disrespect the office of the Presidency would have done the same.
I agree calling them not clapping at the good news that Blacks and other Minorities are getting more and more independent from government should not have been called "treasonous". However, I think the Democrats showed themselves as being anti-American citizen and anti-prosperity by not clapping at the good news. And, they did boo on occasion from what I heard reported, which is just as disrespectful as shouting "You Lie!"
As do Republicans during State of the Union Speeches by some Democratic Presidents. It happened often when President Obama spoke. Yet he never said they were un-American or treasonous.
We can't forget the Walking Dead Character that was there
Could have been worse. They could have shown up and shouted "You lie!"
Unfortunately I believe that my Congressman, Raul Ruiz, refused to properly represent me and attended against my wishes.
You should probably hold your breath and stamp your feet. That'll get his attention.
Interestingly, Wilson was absolutely correct - Obama DID lie.
The outburst came when Obama denied that proposed health care legislation would provide free health coverage for illegal immigrants . Immediately, Wilson shouted, "You lie!"
The outburst caused Obama to stop and look toward the heckler. "That's not true," the president responded.
The verdict:
False. A new report finds the bill could require illegal immigrants to buy coverage, but it clearly restricts subsidies to U.S. citizens and legal residents.
They should show up out of respect for the office of the president, whether or not they respect the man in it. We all work with people we don’t like. If someone told me that he boycotted a meeting because he didn’t like the speaker, I would tell him to make it his last boycott or his last day on the job.
Last time I checked it wasn't mandatory for them to be there as a matter of fact the speech itself isn't mandatory!......so if you told someone you would fire them for not coming to an optional speech, then you definitely suck as a boss!
You're right in both respects. However, these people show a lack of responsibility, integrity, and work ethic by not showing up to hear a policy speech given to Congress and frankly THAT disrespects their constituents.
Tom, you're singing to the choir......you are right, of course, but all these peopel have is 'But Trump, But Trump' like itr excuses them from any personal responsibilities they have.
I know the event isn’t mandatory but that has nothing to do with being respectful or recognizing that government (or a business) cannot be run as a food fight like a scene from the movie Animal House.
The point I was making focused on respect and cohesion not the mandatory nature of an event. For instance, I make staff meetings mandatory. If you leave it to the employees to decide whether to attend meerings based on whether they like each other, then you can’t effectively run an organization. Even if the meeting were voluntary, I wouldn’t allow employees to boycott each other and subvert organizational cohesion to their personal feelings. Those who think their personal feelings are paramount to cohesion, will be shown the door.
When the president speaks, the members in the other two branches of government should show respect for the office of the president (whether they like him or not). Demeaning the office with a juvenile boycott will set the precedent for the other side to do the same when they have the chance. Cohesion should be the goal in operating a single government and a single government is all we have. As Lincoln said, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
U. S. CONSTITUTION -
Article II, Section 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;
So, the PRESIDENT is REQUIRED to give a message to the CONGRESS, per the Constitution. Just from a logical standpoint, if the President is required to be there, then the trade-off for Congress is that they also HAVE TO BE THERE. Otherwise, he can call the Speaker on the phone, tell what he has to say and hang up - and he has done his Constitutional duty, eh?
The precedent was established long ago.
The R's walked out on Clinton one year, other years they sat with their hands in their laps.
Same thing happened to Obama, particularly in 2009.
The only time Congress is united is in times of military crisis ie, after 911 and after Bin laden was killed.
Congress ceased being a functional bipartisan unit under Gingrich.....
There's no obligation whatsoever for anyone in Congress to listen to our Fuhrer, much less to sit while he drones on for 1-1/2 hours. Nor does our dear Fuhrer even need to deliver it in person, he merely needs to send a report to Congress about the SOTU.
Trump effectively phoned in his monotonous address anyway. It was easily the dullest event in network history. He should have just had someone email it to Congress since he apparently doesn't even know how to use a PC, although I suppose he could have used up all the Twitter bandwidth instead.
Even if true, I think it’s disrespectful of the office of the president and inappropriate no matter who does it.
GOP Reps walked out on Clinton and Obama.
Pelosi looked like she was imitating Jeff Sessions's 2009 attendance of the 2009 SOTU - he even less than Pelosi did.
I noticed that world did not end then, nor will end now.
It may influence some future elections, who knows?
And, any time a Rep failed to show up, outside of illness or family matters, I thought they were disrespecting their Districts. I have always felt that way.
It must be tough for our new fuhrer to know that not everyone bothers to listen to him drone on interminably. That was treasonous and they should be shot!
It must be tough for our Democrat elected leaders to act like adults. As to droning on forever, I think Nancy 'Dentures' Pelosi wins that for her display of ignorance spread of what, 8 hours of speaking for illegals?
You kind of wonder about the Pelosi Family. Using her Prowess of trying the "Tear Jerk".....sniff...... story again, it sounds like her Grandson wants to be someone else instead of who he is, and she finds that to be a beautiful thing.
By the way, did you noticed she fumbled through quite a few words during her grandstanding speech ?
I think she needs to be checked for Alzheimer's, or maybe for something more mentally serious.
Tells you where their priorities lie doesn't it .
Poor-fitting dentures?
More likely a loose fitting cork on one or more of the bottles from her cellar .
I really don't understand, and Thomas I apologize for what I'm going to say on your thread - BUT - obviously, many of you have left your intelligence level at the middle school age bracket.
Where do you get off calling the President of the U.S. a sh*tbag, drumpf, azzwipe in chief and all your other cutsie names???? The person in that office may not be the most liked and you may not respect that person, but DAMMITT - the office of President DESERVES respect.
If you can't handle talking like an adult, in adult language, you really shouldn't be posting - until your verbiage catches up with your level of responsibility and maturity.
Unfortunately, for some of you, maturity sure ain't something you can hang your hat on.
The only person required to be there is the POTUS and until a democrat yells out "you lie" during a SOTU address, trumpsters can go pound sand.
Actually, he is not actually required to show up in front of Congress. He is just required to notify them on the State of Union. It wasn't until the 20th Century that we had a nationally broadcast State of the Union address and it became a tradition for each President to do so. And, it became a tradition for all of Congress to show up and sit through it.
exactly, just a recent tradition.
No sedition or broken laws.
Disrespect of the office of the Presidency?
One only has to look without partisan lenses, at the comments Trump made about Bush and Obama for decades, to see his disrespect for the office of the President.
And, your argument still doesn't discount the lack of responsibility and respect these Representatives showed to their own constituents by not showing up and listening to the speech. If you are going to be a Representative or a Senator, you should be expected to show up at the State of the Union and sit through it all to at least show the people that you take your job seriously.
I don't think everyone agrees with you but I respect your right to maintain that opinion.
Go Eagles...
I see nothing anywhere that says who has to show up for the SOTU. If people decide not to attend, that's their business. There is no law that says trump has to release his tax returns either, but every candidate for the last 40 years has done so. Outrage that some dems decided not to go watch trump tell everyone how great he is, again, but no outrage that he won't release his taxes after he said he would? Sounds like, "selective outrage" to me.
You are confusing a requirement with my point that these Democrats lack a sense of responsibility and duty which is an insult to the people they are there to represent. Re-read the article. Nowhere did I say they are required to show up, I did repeat that they should show up out of a desire to actually do their jobs and that by not doing so they are insulting and refusing to do their jobs.
You are missing MY point. If they are not required to go, then there should be no complaints when they do NOT show up. If you want to start with the "what's best for all people" stuff, explain why the koch brothers had to give Paul Ryan 500k for his vote for the tax scam? Best for all? No. Like most politicians, he is in it for himself. Trump is in the WH for himself, no one else. He has NEVER done anything to ever help anyone but himself. Look at his "charity"? Never used for anything but paying people off and is now not only shut down, but under investigation for fraud....something trump is very familiar with.