Our country’s governmental system is so broken that our elected representatives have no power.
Potential presidential candidate Justin Amash explained to Cities 92.9. “The Speaker of the House controls the entire operation top down and you have a similar thing happening in the Senate. And that means that ultimately there are three people running the entire government; the Speaker of the House, The Senate Majority leader and the President of the United States.”
Amash continues, “And rank and file members of congress, most members of congress, the vast majority of them, have no power to get legislation on the floor, get amendments on the floor. They’re basically there just to press a button yes or no.
“And if they don’t push the button that is aligned with the person that’s at the top of their party they’re in trouble and they will be punished in a whole host of ways, kicked off committees, prevented from getting chairmanships, denied fundraising opportunities. So their arms are twisted. They are basically held captive by the leadership team, ”
Justin Amash served as the U.S. representative for Michigan’s 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2021. Amash was elected to Congress in 2010. He was the founder and chairperson of the Liberty Caucus and was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, which he left in June 2019. He received national attention when he became the first Republican congressman to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump.
Amash left the Republican Party and became an independent in July 2019. In April 2020, he joined the Libertarian Party becoming the party’s first and only member of Congress. Amash formed an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in 2020. He is currently considering running for President as a Libertarian in 2024.
During our interview with Amash he explained why our elected representatives aren’t going to tell us they are powerless saying, “A member of congress doesn’t want to tell his or her constituents that that member has no power to effect legislation other than pressing whatever button their leader told them to press. They are embarrassed to do so because it makes them look like they are not really that important.”
Amash continued, “And the sad reality is that even though we have a fantastically designed system of government, it’s not followed in any way according to the original intent. And as a result you have members of congress who go in there, follow orders. There is no deliberative system of government, no real representative democracy. You might think you are electing someone who can effect change but that person really is beholden to the party leader.”
