The 2020 election has not started. Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton is holding townhalls, but she isn’t actively running for office. She doesn’t have an opponent yet. So what is this post about? It is a thought exercise.

What is Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton‘s agenda? Where are her efforts focused? Consider the news alerts on Wexton’s website. Those are the activities she wants her constituents to know about. Try searching news reports. The news reports suggest at least three priorities journalists think noteworthy, and the news reports do not differ greatly from Wexton’s news alerts.

• LGBTQ “rights”.
• Gun control.
• Impeaching President Donald Trump.

The first news story that comes up is How Jennifer Wexton became the ‘patron saint of the transgender community’ (washingtonpost.com). This news report examines Wexton’s unreserved support for the LGBTQ activist agenda.

A column by E. J. Dionne, E.J. DIONNE: The gun showdown in Virginia, raises the gun control issue. Here Dionne reviews how he thinks Democrats will use the gun control issue to help them win a majority in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. He begins with a quote from Wexton.

Jennifer Wexton says impeaching Trump ‘on the table’ (winchesterstar.com/winchester_star) is about a townhall Wexton recently held with her constituents. That article’s title reminds us that the Democrats in Congress still want to remove Trump from office. In addition, the article reports Wexton discussed “gun safety laws, election security, climate change and LGBTQ rights.”

Is Wexton’s agenda appropriate? Congress, the combined power of the House of Representatives and the Senate, represents the will of the American People. We need to examine the priorities of the people we elect with respect to how our government is suppose to work. Let’s look at The United States Constitution. Let’s consider the Preamble.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

• In Order to form a more perfect Union: Are our leaders dividing us?
• Establish Justice: Are our leaders creating and enforcing just laws?
• Insure domestic Tranquility: Are our leaders maintaining order?
• Provide for the common defence: Are our leaders protecting us from invaders.
• Promote the general Welfare: Are our leaders facilitating private enterprise by competently maintaining the legal and physical public infrastructure we need?
• Secure the Blessings of Liberty: Are our leaders protecting our rights? The rights of everyone, not just some people?

How do Wexton’s priorities square with the Preamble? Is Wexton’s apparent focus on LGBTQ “rights”, gun control, and impeaching President Donald Trump hitting the mark? Are Wexton’s activities in other areas more important?

So what is the point? How do we evaluate the performance of an elected official? Well, three news articles may not enough to make a decision. Politics is complicated, and the news media is horribly biased. So we each need to stay abreast of the news. That includes gathering the news from multiple sources. We need to have a good idea of what our elected officials are doing, and that takes work. Otherwise, we are going to do a lot of head-scratching on election day, and we won’t make a good decision.