Ben Frankllin would be proud of Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md)

I don’t know Wayne Gilchrest, the moderate Republican member of Congress, defeated for re-election in a primary earlier this year, but old Ben would be proud of the way he tried to represent his constituents, and Ben would endorse the comments of Gilchrest as reported in Marc Fisher’s Washington Post column today. I have excerpted Gilchrest’s remarks from the column:

“The Republican Party has become more narrow, more self-serving, more centered around ‘I want, I want, I want.’ I’ve had it with my colleagues who don’t understand the issues, who not only don’t read the Financial Times, they have never heard of the Financial Times. We’re in this bad place as a country because of the evangelicals, the neo cons, the nasty, bitter and mean…very clever ideological groups that use money, technology, fear and bigotry to lead people around. Voting according to your knowledge and experience – that’s out the window. Competence and prudence? Forget it.”

He also had a few choice words for the American citizen:

“We’ve become a country that sits down in front of the boob tube and listens to people shouting about freedom, but now people equate freedom not with the acquisition of knowledge but with comfort. ‘Give me my flat-screen TV, the gas-guzzling car, the goods made in China.’ The whole concept of freedom has become the idea of comfort, with a complete lack of responsibility.”

What about his party’s standard bearer, John McCain? Gilchrest had this to say:

“John McCain just recites memorized pieces of information in a narrow way, whereas Barack Obama is constantly evaluating information, using his judgment. One guy just recites what’s in front of him, and the other has initiative and reason and prudence and wisdom.”

OK….no wonder the ideological purists of his party are happy to see him go. He tells the truth, and that is not something the right wing ideologues can truck. No sireee!

Now you know why Ben Franklin’s quote is the inspiration for this blog. He said, “You have a republic…if you can keep it.” Ben knew that if our representatives reach the point where they set aside their own intellect, their own judgment and simply be guided by public opinion, we would be in danger of losing the republic. Writing to “The Electors at Bristol” in 1790, Sir Edmund Burke eloquently expressed this sentiment when he wrote, “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays rather than serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

American needs a lot more like Rep. Wayne Gilchrest!