Accountability: Time for a Citizen's Performance Evaluation of the United States Congress

                    From Pro President Obama Blog                                                                                                                                http://propresobama.org/2011/12/08/gop-plan-obstruct-delay-degrade/

Did you elect your Congressman and your Senator to ensure that President Obama does not get reelected? Or did you elect them to run the country and solve our problems? In short, did you elect them to do nothing? Did you elect them to thwart the President's every recommendation to help our country get back on its feet? No? Well, that's exactly what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republicans decided to do the moment Barak Obama was elected. Watch him saying this... Suppose you did that on your job? Suppose you decided that you didn't like your colleagues and refused to cooperate with them? How long would you last on your job? Right! You'd be gone in the blink of an eye.

Isn't it time for the American taxpayer to give the House and Senate the customary performance evaluation? After all, we, the taxpayers, pay their salaries and for their benefits, their offices, their staffs, and their job-related expenses. Through the election process, we hired them. Of course, the ultimate evaluation of their performance is to not  re-elect them; and once upon a time, that did work, but not anymore. That was before they could be so easily bought by powerful corporations and very rich men. Now they serve the needs of corporations and the rich, not the American people. They've stacked the deck so that even the Supreme Court justices seem to serve the mighty corporations, and not we, the people.

John Boehner, House Majority Leader 

Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader

Most organizations, whether corporation, non-profit, or government, conduct performance evaluations. This is done to determine how well the employee achieved pre-determined, agreed upon goals, and if s/he met expectations. It is to discuss where improvements can be made (if necessary), establish goals for the next year, and to decide salary increases (if any).

There are usually identifiable, measurable, concrete goals upon which the performance is evaluated as outlined in the job description. In addition, these must be achievable by the employee, measurable, and totally under the employee's control.  Although in theory, performance evaluations are objective tools, when actually prepared, they can also be subjective. Establishing agreed upon goals helps to diminish  personal judgment.

In today's society, the performance review has several stages. Each organization has its own system, usually uniquely designed for it. Most performance evaluation systems include the following steps:

1. The employee prepares an evaluation. 
2. The reviewer (usually the person's direct supervisor) prepares an evaluation. 
3. The two meet privately to review and discuss the supervisor's evaluation of the employee's performance.
4. The employee signs the document indicating that s/he saw it. The employee's signature only connotes that the review took place, not approval of the evaluation. If there is disagreement, the employee may write his/her comments on the review stating that s/he disagrees with the evaluation and why. 
5. The supervisor's manager may review the evaluation and a human resources manager.
6. The rating the employee receives usually dictates the amount of his/her salary increase (if any).
7. Establish goals for the next year.

How would you evaluate your Representative and your Senator? What goals do you have for them? Are they living up to them? If you're among those who believe that the role of Congress is to keep the country at a standstill, overwhelmed in debt, with our children going hungry, and uneducated, and jobs nonexistent, then this article is not for you. Pass it on to someone else who wants our country to recover and be successful. If you believe the lies and deliberate misinterpretation of the facts, then this article is not for you. Give it to someone else.

Your tax dollars pay the Congress' salaries and for their generous benefits. Here's an article on Congressional salaries and benefits from the New York Times' About.com. Looking back over the past three years, and based on what you observe today, are you getting your money's worth? I think not. We have a President that has brought the country back from the brink of disaster despite the refusal of Congress to cooperate. Let your Representative and your Senator know how you feel about them by voting them out of office!

Make sure you are properly registered by your state's deadline, and VOTE! This isn't just a Presidential election. What happens in the next four years is up to you. Do you want a country run by corporations and the rich who care nothing about you? Or do you want a country that uses your tax dollars wisely and for the benefit of ALL the people? Do you want a country that imposes other people's religious values on you?

Your answers these questions will determine how you vote. The United States is a diverse country. Let's make sure that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.