Frankly, I never thought I’d have a reason to write this. I’ve never enjoyed politics or learned much about it. In my limited experience, it seems the whole process is driven by money and the quest for power. The view we get from the press, conservative or liberal, makes it seem a generally unattractive profession to most of us.

Before November's elections, I had the opportunity to learn more about what our Texas politicians have to do when elected. A construction industry group I belong to tried to set up a forum where a panel of newly elected state politicians would answer questions about their plans to boost the construction industry. Texas is doing better than many areas of the country, but there are always situations where politics matters.

We couldn’t schedule the forum on the date selected because the new state representatives had to go to their orientation meetings to learn what they need to know when the Texas Legislature meets starting Tuesday, January 8.

在规划期间，当我们的小组讨论了小组成员的问题时，一个集团成员是一名前国务代表，发表评论困扰着我。大多数新立法者几乎都不知道建筑业以及它的工作原理。那怎么样？我们是经济的主要重要部分！

So it’s our responsibility to teach them what they need to know? Apparently, yes. And with my limited political knowledge, I guess that’s called lobbying!

Maybe I’m the last person to realize this, but after some thought, maybe it’s time to appreciate what our legislators have to learn. During the 82nd Legislature, ended May 30, 2011, they considered the 5,796 bills filed, and 1,379 passed. Before they vote on any of the 6000+ bills likely to be filed in the House and Senate during this session, they’ll have some homework to do, and only four months to do it!

In Texas, they get a yearly average of $16,160 for their work, including a daily stipend during the five month legislative session every two years, according to the University of Texas website,http://www.laits.utexas.edu/txp_media/html/leg/0205.html.. I get the impression they don’t do this for the money. Maybe it’s for the power, connections, ego or, perhaps, to just make Texas a better place to live and do business.

所以，我准备承认我没有欣赏我们的政客对我们所做的事情。当然，可能有一些人不会完全或正确地完成工作，但每个行业都有杂草的坏演员。

What I now appreciate is the amount of time and effort the committed politicians have to put forth to have any chance of doing the right thing when they’re faced with thousands of requests for lawmaking from hundreds of constituencies. Each politician has experience in some business, whether law, industry, medical and even a few with construction backgrounds. They have to learn all they can in a short period of time about the plusses and minuses of the proposals they have to consider. It seems nearly an impossible job.

对于那些你得到报酬的小点，你会为办公室跑吗？你会花这些时间试图学习你需要知道什么吗？

如果您的背景运行建筑公司，您是否愿意了解所有关于医疗，零售，餐厅，农业，石油，天然气和数百个其他企业的所有商品，以便您对最重要的物品投票投票？学习很多！

As an example, at the Texas Legislature email notifications choices website, a list of the committee notices that one can sign up for is athttp://www.legis.state.tx.us/MyTLO/Alerts/Posting.aspx?Type=Notices. It’s a LONG list of committees! And a committee like “Business and Industry” might have plenty of learning opportunities! I signed up for its email notices. I’m interested to see what shows up in my inbox.

So, yes, it is our responsibility to tell them about our industry’s concerns. Otherwise, we’ll get drowned out by the competition. Political party affiliation doesn’t matter in this case. It’s just about getting the word out to the legislators so they have what they need to know to help any of us help the people we work with and for.

It also seems the whole process is even tougher for politicians we send to Washington. I understand their pay and benefits are substantially better than state or local compensation, but they also have more responsibility to many more people in their districts or states.

And don’t forget the local city council members, mayors, school board members and other politicians. They do a LOT for us. I’m not willing to do it. If you are, I’ll say in advance that I appreciate your work! I certainly do if your campaign is a nasty, mudslinging one that seems so popular these days.

我希望今年的政治进程能够了解更多。（我应该使它成为一个“解决方案？”）我注册了德克萨斯州电子邮件通知，作为一个新秀，我希望我会发现其他人可以让我通知。我希望几年前收到更多关注。我晚上没有让我保持清醒，但它应该！