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Pete Weichlein

Peter M. Weichlein is the CEO of FMC: The Former Members of Congress Association. He also is a licensed attorney and a free-lance writer, focusing on politics and civics in his work. In addition to op-eds, speeches, and public relations materials, his most recent publication is the biography of former Member of Congress Bob Clement: Presidents, Kings and Convicts.
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    Congress

    Reform in 2023: If that’s your standard-bearer, then what are your standards?

    Pete Weichlein
    December 19, 2022
    U.S. Congress

    With the election over, the voter’s job now is to hold our elected representatives accountable over the next two years, writes Weichlein

    Photographer is my life./Getty Images

    As 2022 draws to a close, The Fulcrum has invited leaders of democracy reform organizations to share their hopes and plans for the coming year. This is the first in the series.

    Weichlein is the CEO of FMC: The Former Members of Congress Association.

    In a 2022 survey by Zety, which offers career advice and an online resume builder, over 1,000 Americans ranked “politicians” as the least respected profession when given 20 job titles to choose from. I’m guessing politicians would have come in last even if there had been 30 or 40 choices. Politicians were ranked lower than reality TV stars, social media influencers and TV reporters. Moneywise went through a similar exercise in 2019, asking Americans to rank professions based on how much they respected them. At the very bottom of a list with almost 30 choices: members of Congress.

    I cannot vouch for the scientific soundness of Zety’s poll, nor do I know how participants were selected or how questions were phrased, but there’s enough corollary evidence all over the internet to suggest Zety may be on to something: Americans don’t like, trust or respect their elected representatives as a whole. Yet every two years, those of us who vote reward a candidate of our choice with one of our most precious possessions: our vote. And we all apply some sort of benchmark or analysis as we decide which candidate to vote for as our standard-bearer in Congress.

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    reform in 2023

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    Leveraging big ideas

    Mass shooting. Inaction. Repeat.

    Pete Weichlein
    June 10, 2022
    Protest against gun violence

    People take part in a Moms Demand Action Gun Violence Rally on June 8.

    Nathan Howard/Getty Images

    Weichlein is the CEO of FMC: The Former Members of Congress Association.

    As we are dealing yet again with the horror of our children falling victim to a mass murderer, let’s keep our focus squarely on what unites us, because within hours of the news breaking, the political and media voices that benefit from keeping us divided were already out in full force.

    Regardless of political persuasion, whether we are gun owners, who we voted for in the last presidential election, and what our ZIP code is – we all agree that America is in a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking pattern of school shootings, followed by outrage, followed by inaction. There isn’t one rational American who didn’t react to the news from Uvalde, Texas, with despair, followed by anger that yet again a madman could spread carnage and end young lives in an instant. These days we are not united by much but, surely, we are united by anguish over innocent lives lost and fear for our own children and grandchildren. How is common grief not enough for a call to action and a demand of Congress to overcome differences in search for solutions?

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