The Fourth Freedom Index for the 112th Congress Has Just Been Published: Hold Your Congressmen Accountable for Their Votes

 

In order to preserve our freedom under the Constitution, We the People must hold our elected representatives and senators in Congress accountable for their votes on key issues. One good tool for doing that is "The Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution," which is published twice a year by The New American magazine.

Each issue of the "Freedom Index" scores all 435 representatives and all 100 senators on ten key votes based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.

The fourth "Freedom Index" was published in the October 22, 2012 issue of The New American. The scores are derived by dividing a Congressman’s constitutional votes (pluses) by the total number he cast (pluses and minuses) and multiplying by 100. Therefore the constitutionally best score is a 100 percent and the worst score is 0 percent. The average House score for this index (votes 31-40) is 47 percent, and the average Senate score is 40 percent. Ten senators earned 100 percent scores; three representatives did so in the House.

Please click here  to view the current "Freedom Index" and look up your representative and senators to see how well they scored. If you need to look up who your senators and representative are based on your address, click here.

Next, we recommend that you send an email to your representative and senators and let them know whether you approve or disapprove of their votes.

Of course, if one of your congressmen scores a 100 percent, let him know you approve of his performance (assuming you agree with the scoring, of course). However, a score of 90 percent or below means that they voted against the constitution one or more times. Be sure you let them know in your email that you disapprove of their incorrect votes, and ask them why they voted the wrong way. We'll be sending the same message to all three of your congressmen, so be sure to include a message to all three in your email message. If you've looked up the score for all three, be sure to mention each congressman by name with their corresponding score. Nonetheless, we have written the message in a generic way, just in case you don't have time to look up the individual scores.

Click here to purchase hard copies of this new Freedom Index for distribution to others.

Thanks.

Your Friends at The John Birch Society