THE ELECTIONS are over and we now have mostly the same cast of representatives as before. How do we insure they represent the nation’s and states’ interests, not just special interests?

Grover Norquist, a Republican operative, made the following statement about the presidential election of 2012. “All we have to do is replace Obama.... We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go.... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it.... Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: The House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills.” That is a revealing statement about how special interests see the public, and about the value of our elected representatives.

As for the states’, there is ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council that sends “model bills” to state legislators promoting its agenda. “ALEC bills itself as ‘the nation’s largest, non-partisan, individual public-private membership association of state legislators.’” A quote about model bills is, “One of these tries to refute all the evidence about climate change. Another model would cut various regulations and public services and is called...the Economy Civil Rights Act.”

Georgia just passed Constitutional Amendment One pertaining to charter schools. ALEC is “intent on privatizing education, breaking unions, and passing voter ID laws.”

These are chilling statements made by special interests, and about their agenda. They are about power and control, not about the needs of the general public.

We need to consider this information in order to collectively urge a rethinking by politicians about the political direction they are relentlessly pursuing.