John Washington III Asks How Politicians Can Claim to Work for the People Without Fighting for Them
In a TWA Community post, John Washington III challenged politicians who campaign on fighting for the people - on police accountability, and on property taxes that never end even after a home is paid off.
John Washington III is asking how politicians can claim to work for the people when, in his account, they never fight for them. Every election season, he wrote, voters hear the same lines - "I'm working for the people," "I'm fighting for the people," "I'm here to represent the people" - and his question is: "Where is the fight?" When police officers abuse their authority or engage in corruption, John Washington III asked, where are the politicians who claim to represent the people, and why are they not fighting to hold corrupt police officers accountable or standing up for the citizens who put them in office?
John Washington III turned to property taxes, asking why politicians always talk about lowering them but never seriously discuss ending property taxes on the homes people own and live in. Why should an American family spend 20 or 30 years paying off a home, he wrote, only to continue paying property taxes on that same home for the rest of their lives - and how can a politician campaign on lowering property taxes, get elected, and then vote for tax increases?
John Washington III also asked how many citizens even know what is being voted on when those decisions are made, and whether the people are being made fully aware of decisions that could increase their property tax bills. "Where is the transparency? Where is the accountability? Where is the representation?" he wrote. A politician cannot stand in front of cameras during election season claiming to fight for the people, he wrote, and then ignore the very issues affecting their everyday lives. (The stored intake text ends mid-sentence; this remake uses only the complete material in it.)
