Public Servant Stephen Tryon Challenges Career Politicians in Congressional Bid

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The value of a vote shouldn't depend on the contents of one's coffers, and people's priorities should trump party politics, said Stephen Tryon in a recent editorial for the Salt Lake Tribune. That's why the former Army officer and Overstock.com executive is running for Congress – to encourage "career citizens" to oust the "career politicians" who've run things for too long.

Tryon, author of the book Accountability Citizenship, is running in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Utah's 3^rd District. As Utah and the nation gear up for this year's congressional elections, he wants voters to think carefully about their elected representatives – and about to whom those representatives are ultimately beholden. Tryon believes this is especially critical when U.S. campaign finance law treats corporations like individuals, setting the stage for some fundamental conflict in accountability.

"When people give you a big donation, they expect something in return. This holds true for elected official who accept large donations; they understand the donor expects something in return, and they know this 'quid pro quo' is wrong even if it is legal," Tryon says.

Research conducted by the Arbinger Institute, a global-leadership consulting firm headquartered in Farmington, Utah, indicates that large donations can lead recipients to deceive themselves about what's right. Arbinger describes such behavior as "self-betrayal" in their classic book, Leadership and Self-Deception. In that book, Arbinger says once one betrays their instincts in such a way, the brain starts to filter information to justify the self-betrayal, and this type of self-deception is at the root of much organizational dysfunction.  Tryon agrees, citing Congress as an example of an organization overly reliant on corporate donors.

In the absence of appropriate restrictions, we find members of Congress with contributions from medical services companies comprising fully one third of total dollars from their top twenty contributors.  Such lawmakers are quick to broadcast how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will increase the costs of Medicare and Medicaid, but they fail to report that the Congressional Budget Office reported the ACA would reduce federal deficits by $118B through 2019. They say the ACA will increase taxes and hurt corporate profit margins, but they fail to mention that the middle class has subsidized those profit margins by bearing the hidden, distributed costs of 50 million uninsured Americans for decades.

Lawmakers who are beholden to donors cannot represent individual citizens the way they should.  All of this may happen quite innocently as a result of the self-deception cycle, argues Tryon.  Members of Congress and other career politicians don't have to be bad people in order to be victims of self-deception.

About Stephen Tryon

As a former U.S. Army officer and senior executive of Overstock.com, Stephen Tryon has decades of experience in government and corporate America. His mission is to run a centrist congressional campaign on the platform of accountability and transparency. Tryon holds degrees from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (BS '83) and Stanford University (MA '92).  Contact Steve at his website, www.tryonforcongress.com, or by emailing [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter (@S7Tryon) or on his Facebook page.

SOURCE Stephen Tryon