John Washington III Asks Where the Fight Is From Politicians Who Claim to Work for the People

John Washington III is asking a direct question of the politicians who campaign on his would-be voters' support: how can they claim to work for the people when they never fight for the people? In the statement at the center of the coverage, John Washington III said every election season brings the same promises - politicians say they are working for the people, fighting for the people and here to represent the people - and he asked where the fight is once they are in office.

The first test John Washington III set was accountability. When police officers abuse their authority or engage in corruption, he asked, where are the politicians who claim to represent the people - why are they not fighting to hold corrupt officers accountable, and why are they not standing up for the citizens who put them in office?

The second test was the property tax on a family's own home. John Washington III asked why politicians always talk about lowering property taxes but never seriously discuss ending them on the homes people own and live in - why a family should spend 20 or 30 years paying off a home and then keep paying property taxes on it for the rest of their lives, and when the people actually get to own what they worked their lives to pay for. He asked how a politician can campaign on lowering property taxes, get elected, and then vote for tax increases, and how many citizens even know what is being voted on when those decisions are made. John Washington III closed the argument on transparency, accountability and representation: a politician cannot claim the people's fight in front of the cameras and then ignore the issues affecting their everyday lives, he said.