NOTES FOR REMARKS DELIVERED BY DAVID RABB (CEPAC CO-FOUNDER) AT THE PLENARY SESSION OF PRESIDENT KATSAV'S COMMISSION TO ASSESS THE GOVERNMENTAL AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS IN ISRAEL-JUNE 7, 2006
 
I come today with the perspective of the simple, unconnected citizen.  And I come out decisively against the proposals for multi-representative districts or regional-proportional elections.  I believe that what Israel needs are direct district elections.
It is very hard to describe to someone who has never experienced something what that something feels like.  For example, it is hard to describe to someone who lives near the equator what snow is, how it looks, how it feels when it falls on one’s face, etc.  Thus, I think that it is hard for many Israelis to comprehend what personal representation really is, what its advantages are, how it really works, and what in fact causes it to work.  In my opinion, direct representation is the key factor missing in our current system; this lacuna is precisely what causes the lack of accountability of our representatives, the lack of public confidence in the Knesset, and the general governmental weakness that we are all suffering under.  The multi-representative district proposals do not solve these deficiencies.
 
Therefore, with your permission, I would like to take the next few minutes to try to illustrate tangibly what true direct representation is and what truly makes it work.  I am familiar with this kind of representation first-hand through my extensive involvement in the pro-Israel lobby both in northern New Jersey and nationally as a member of AIPAC’s Executive Committee.  I saw from the inside how members of Congress and their offices work.
 
First and foremost, every United States Congressman must live in the district he or she represents.  He goes home every weekend and is in-district at least three days a week, for holidays, and during breaks between sessions.  And, being there, he necessarily experiences life the way his neighbors do.  Driving on the same traffic-jammed, pot-holed roads and highways, suffering through the same air, water, and noise pollution, using the same schools and municipal services, served by the same police force, etc.  He goes to the same supermarkets, movie theaters, and public events as his neighbors.  His children participate in the same sports and other activities as other children in his district.  He experiences life as his constituents do.  And he is accessible.  His neighbors see him, talk with him, and tell him what is on their minds.
 
Furthermore, rank and file citizens have numerous opportunities to see and meet their representative at all sorts of local events—not just a few months before elections, but year-round.  And the representative typically even seeks out events to appear at and meet his constituents, whether at schools, places of worship, group meetings, local dedications of buildings or monuments, dinners of non-profit organizations, or elsewhere.  Representatives even initiate their own town hall meetings—events open to the general public—not to speak and lecture, but simply to listen to what’s on their public’s mind, what their voters want them to do in order to improve their lives.
Every member of Congress has a district office open to the public.  He has a staff that receives any district resident, listens to the resident’s difficulties in dealing with government, and helps solve their problems.  One needn’t be a close buddy of the representative, a contributor, a party apparatchik, or even a member of the representative’s party in order to be received.  One simply has to be a constituent.  The office truly serves the public. And every American knows that there is an address, there is whom to turn to, there is someone whose job truly is to represent him, to help him in government, and to be attuned to his problems and needs.  Every American knows that he can, with full confidence, declare to a government clerk not acting responsively,: “Well, I am going to call my Congressman!” and know that that declaration means something.  This is a feeling that is very lacking here in Israel.  There is no one to turn to.  There is no one whose job is to be attentive to me, the simple citizen.  It is no wonder that Americans who make Aliya feel this gap more than any other flaw in Israel’s governmental system.
 
Members of Congress are also highly attuned to the opinions of their voters regarding proposed legislation.  Citizens know that they can call their representative’s office in order to express an opinion and that their views are duly considered.  Because in every office there is someone who records every phone call, every fax, and every email regarding any piece of legislation or issue and notes whether the opinion expressed is pro or con.  I am not naïve enough to believe that the representative votes or acts on the basis of these opinions, but nor am I so cynical to believe that the weight of these opinions are not duly considered.  Because I know that they are.
 
And why does the American representative do all these things?  Why does he really care what this or that citizen thinks?  And why is he so quick to help solve his constituents’ problems?  Believe me that it is not because a Congressman is any more altruistic or less self-centered or less busy than his Israeli counterpart.
 
Rather, it is due to a single factor.  It is because his motivations are directly aligned with the needs of his constituents.  In order for him to be reelected—and, let’s face it, this is a primary objective of all politicians—he personally (not his party, but he personally) needs each and every vote.  Not of his party’s central council, but of the residents of his district.  And if he does not serve his public well enough, it will not be hard for a new opponent, either from within or without his party, to shunt him out of office.  And, if he does not reach out and build bridges to the various groups and blocs of voters in his district and convince them that he will represent them best of all, his opponent will do so and steal away their votes.
 
It is precisely because we in Israel are such a fragmented society, with so many different social, ethnic, and religious groupings, that we need these types of representatives who don’t view themselves as representing just a particular group with a specific and narrow agenda, but know that they have to understand and represent groups different from them.  (For the record, as a voter, I don’t really care much who represents me—man or woman, Jew or Arab, religious or “secular”.  It really doesn’t matter.  What is crucial, however, is that my representative understands what is important to me and is prepared to fight for what is important to me in Knesset and in government.) And with these kinds of representatives, we will achieve both better and more-accountable representation and better inter-group understanding, as opposed to the divisions that the current system—and in fact any proportional electoral system—perpetuates and exacerbates.
 
And therefore, I implore you, my colleagues, to set the quality of the representation that I just described as our goal.  Let us build an electoral process that aligns the objectives of our elected officials with the needs of the voter and grows good representatives who can represent an array of constituent opinions and needs.  In my opinion, this can occur only if we endorse direct, district elections.