Everything I've written on this blog so far has to do with national politics. With the midterm elections and all the campaigns, that is all that's been in the news. But now that that's over, I want to focus on Utah politics.
Here is a news story from the Daily Herald that raises some questions. What should happen when an elected official of government is in the military and gets called to active duty?
There is a law in Texas that says those officials can chose someone to take their place while they are gone, and in the past three officials chose their wives to represent them. On one hand, that is good because most likely their wives had the same opinions as them and could always ask them for advice if they weren't sure. On the other hand, what if the proxy's opinions were very different? Then to official ends up being someone who the public didn't vote for, and they are not being well represented.
I agree that there needs to be something in place to protect the officials jobs while they are away serving our country. And this would be the best solution that I could think of, so I would support this bill.
I think that you have to also look at it from their point of view, If whoever they pick does not do well the are going to lose in future elections. I think that with that in mind they are probably very careful about who they choose.
ReplyDeleteI think that the question pertained in this issue isn't so much that the selected individual's political views will closely reflect those of the originally elected official, but rather the issue of the selected individuals ability to act in such an involved role. Essentially, are they capable of making the "right" decision in the absence of a "qualified" official as voted by the population which elected him. After all, most people tend to marry those who would have similar core values as themselves. When you elect a man (or woman) you ultimately elected their morals, which means in essence you have elected their families as well, or at least their beliefs...
ReplyDeleteI think that they should have someone else rather their whoever they choose represent them. It should be the runner up during election time to take their place. I think it isn't right to have whoever they feel like take their place. We didn't vote for these people and they shouldn't be able to make decisions.
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