Letter: Why federal legislators get low approval ratings

Our federal legislators generally get a low approval rating. Why?

The “mandate myth.” Donald Trump got 2.5 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. Half of the eligible voters did not vote, half of the voters voted for Clinton, half of the Trump voters voted against Clinton rather than for Trump. That means only about 10 percent of the eligible voters actually voted for Trump and 90 percent of the eligible voters did not vote for him and his agenda. Winners have no “mandate.”

Bullies, not statesmen. When one party wins, the other party has to stop them. There were 90 votes to repeal “Obamacare” and not one to improve it. Not a single vote to fix Social Security. Not a single vote to reduce regulations that impede everyone from businesses to schools. They are bullied into inaction by party leaders.

Congressmen are for sale. The tax code is 75,000 pages long, but not a single vote to reduce loopholes put in by lobbyists. Huge corporations make billions in profit, spend millions on lobbyists and PACs to support candidates, and are rewarded with “NO taxes due.”

Hypocrisy. Congressmen reward themselves with their salary and free medical care for life but don’t support pensions, Social Security, or healthcare for their constituents. Clinton released 45,000 emails. Not enough. Mike Pence is asked to release his emails to show Indiana government is not corrupt. Oh, no! What should his fellow Republicans do? Certainly don’t investigate, shame, demand release of them, or demand transparency or accountability.

Hypocrites.

This story was originally published December 14, 2016 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Letter: Why federal legislators get low approval ratings."