To the Journal editor:

The Mining Journal Editorial Board recently asked when the political climate will improve in this country.

It will improve nationally when elected officials work conscientiously and honestly not to just get themselves re-elected, but to fulfill their obligations as outlined in the U.S. Constitution: to establish justice, by holding leaders responsible for their actions, to insure domestic tranquility, by addressing domestic terrorism, and to promote the general welfare, by voting for sufficient aid for those in need because of the pandemic.

Locally, the political climate will improve when our representative holds town halls in Marquette to hear our concerns and takes actions to address those concerns.

Congressional District 1 covers nearly 25,000 square miles, has nearly 700,000 in population, with 300,000-plus in the Upper Peninsula and approximately 400,000 in the downstate portion.

People in both areas–the U.P. and downstate — are concerned that our representative is not fulfilling his constitutional obligations. We are also concerned that his positions and votes relative to the former administration have exacerbated the political divide and have done nothing to improve the political climate.

We would like to hold him accountable, but there is no federal law allowing for the recall of representatives, so the defund group is trying to get the attention of his funders to alert them and let them know that their support of him can reflect poorly on them and their businesses.

It would be nice if we felt we could just wait quietly until 2022, but we are in trapped in a number of crises and we need the active help of our representative.

We don’t care much about partisan politics. We care that his focus be more on helping us and fulfilling his Constitutional obligations. We are not interested in rehashing the past, we are concerned about the present and future needs of our fellow citizens.

We can’t afford to just turn a blind eye and wait for two years in order to vote for someone else who might do a better job.