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  • Promises

Promises

• • I will be honest and transparent.
• • I will represent everyone who lives in the district fairly
• • I will represent the entire district.
• • I will run an office that is fair and non-political and that is run as cheaply and efficiently as possible.
• • I will not serve more than four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

HONESTY AND TRANSPARENCY

I will be honest with the public. When I am asked a question, I will answer it even when I do not think the person asking the question wants to hear the answer that I give. (In return, I'd like the courtesy of an opportunity to explain my answers and to argue for them.)

My office will be transparent. In addition to not lying by what I say, I won't lie by omission (by what I leave out). My office and I will maintain a daily blog. We'll let you know what's up for a vote and how I voted (and why). We'll let you know what issues were before the committees I serve on, who we met with or were lobbied by, who caved in to which lobbyists, etc. (unless, of course, I am on a committee that deals with classified information). My office and I will be your spy in Washington. You'll be my boss, so you need to be in the loop.

FAIR REPRESENTATION

Everyone in the district will be equally represented by me and my office with a simple exception. Servicemen and women and their immediate families and veterans living in my district will be separated out into a "fast lane." I think this is fair; they earned it. With that exception, every person who lives in district 7 will have his or her concerns, questions and opinions respected and addressed in the order that they are received by me or by my office.

I really mean this. Once I am elected, the campaign is over. A constituent is a constituent. It does not matter whether that constituent voted for me, for an opponent or didn't vote at all (or isn't registered to vote). It doesn't matter whether the constituent gave money to me or to an opponent. For example, if Marsha Blackburn, the current Republican Congressman for our district, calls my office, she'll be asked if she lives in the district and whether she's a veteran or service member or immediate family member of one. This will put whatever issue she needs addressed in the order in which it was received according to the fast-lane policy. And that's it. She doesn't move up or down on the list because of who she is.

Ever try to raise an issue with a congressman and get a form letter in response that clearly indicates that your letter wasn't read? Me too. That won't happen. When you contact us, you'll get an initial form response indicating that your contact was received, but eventually we'll really read it and try to deal with it appropriately. Responses might take some time, especially at first. But since you're my boss, you will be hearing back from us.

So, if you vote for me or volunteer for my campaign or donate to it, do it because you think it's right and best for the district and the country. Do it because you believe as I do: that working people deserve effective representation just as much as rich people and corporations. If you're doing it for favors down the road, you'll be disappointed.

My staff will be instructed not to convey to me any claims you make to them about past donation or support. I will handle every person's requests with the respect they are due.

THE ENTIRE DISTRICT

I will represent every part of the district. I will not concentrate unduly on the richest parts of the district or the most populated parts. I owe just as much of my job and salary to a farmer in Fayette as I do to a banker in Brentwood.

FAIR, NON-POLITICAL AND EFFICIENT

I am running a frugal campaign, spending pennies on the dollar compared to the incumbent. I'll do my best to carry this sensibility into my Congressional office after I'm elected. At present, there's no party or political test for the folks who help me out; the test is interest, enthusiasm and ability. The same tests will be used to select my office staff.

TERM LIMITS

We should impose Constitutional term limits on our representatives in the House and the Senate. But I can't promise that that will happen. What I can do is promise to limit myself to eight years (much like every president between Washington and FDR did: declining to seek more than a second term even though doing so was legal). If I can't change the climate in Washington in eight years, I should get out of the way and let someone else take a shot. If politicians think that they can keep the gravy train rolling forever, they'll continue to concentrate on protecting their position instead of protecting the citizens they're meant to serve. I refuse to play that game.

WHY MY PROMISES ARE DIFFERENT

It's important for every adult person to know that there are some things he can control and some things that he cannot. One mark of a person's wisdom is for him to be well-acquainted with the boundary between the things within his power to change and the things that aren't. Another mark of a person's wisdom is to avoid making promises (except promises of reassurance made to children) about the things outside of his control.

So, for example, the first George Bush said, when he was running for president, "Read my lips, no new taxes." But then he found himself in an economy that made it his responsibility as a president to sign a bill that raised them. The problem with Bush's promise (and with most policy-specific promises) was that the world changed. This forced him to choose between keeping his campaign promise and being a responsible commander-in-chief. The problem was with making the promise: for him to keep it would have required many things in the world that were outside of his control as president to go a certain way, and they didn't. He did the responsible thing as president. But it wasn't wise to make that promise during his campaign; it was misleading to the American people. To his credit, Bush avoided doing the expedient thing as a president that might have helped him win as a candidate in his second campaign: keeping an ill-considered promise.

Politicians are famous for making campaign promises that they don't keep and that they can't keep. Sometimes, candidates promise to do things that are completely out of their control, like promising to decrease unemployment by a specific percentage (something that depends on a lot of factors). Sometimes, candidates make the same mistake that the first Bush made: they promise things they technically have the power to do or nearly have the power to do, like a promise about a specific vote, but that it would be irresponsible to still do once the facts in the world change. Nowadays, they seem to keep to these unwise commitments instead of breaking them, preferring getting in office again to doing the responsible but unpopular thing. (George Bush could have vetoed every bill on his desk that had a tax increase in it, and it is unlikely that Congress could have over-ridden his vetoes, but that would've been irresponsible.)

Despite this sordid history, politicians keep making ill-considered promises of both types: the impossible and the contingently possible but still unwise. You'll notice that the five promises I made aren't like this, that I've deliberately separated my specific policy goals from my promises. I've deviated from the politician's play book for three reasons. First, I think that promising to do something that requires me to predict what will happen in the world over the next two years, the behavior of 434 other House members, 100 other senators and the president is irresponsible. I also think it is unwise and is an insult to your intelligence as a voter. (And I am counting on the voters' intelligence in this campaign.) Second, I think that politicians use promises that everyone knows they can't keep as an excuse to avoid making promises about the things they can control, like the five promises that I've made: promises to govern openly, responsibly and without corruption, either legal or illegal. Finally, I'm not going to make promises that I can't keep, because even though I'm running for office, I'm not a politician.