Our elected officials work for us, and they fail us when they decline to tell us truths that we, the people, don’t want to hear. These members, and indeed every other elected Republican, knew better, but very few were willing to say so. I had dozens of meetings with individual lawmakers, as well as group sessions, imploring my colleagues to take a different approach, because shutdowns don’t work. How do we persuade responsible elected officials to speak uncomfortable truths to the people they work for? ADADMost elected officials first run for office for the right reasons: They want to make big policy changes.

Source: Washington Post January 29, 2021 10:52 UTC