The backstory is that Republican leaders in Congress finally found a minimum-wage bill they could love, because they attached it to a tax credit worth $700 billion for the wealthiest Americans.

Democrats, despite their desire to give working Americans a break, wouldn’t stand for the poison pill Republicans attached to it. The giveaway to America’s superrich—one of many in the last six years—would further erode our nation’s ability to provide essential healthcare, education and social services upon which many low- and middle-income earners depend, as well as national security priorities of such obvious importance.

What’s going on is that there is an election now, and members of both political parties know that their actions may well be on their constituents’ minds.

The point is not that members of one political party are always right and the other party always wrong. The AFT has supporters and opponents on both sides of the aisle. The point is that our elected leaders should be judged by their actions—not by their party labels. And now that the elections are upon us, officeholders should be held accountable for the votes they have cast.

In case you doubt that elections affect real people’s lives, consider two examples. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican with crossover appeal, has alienated many voters since taking office. Schwarzenegger tried to undermine nurse staffing in hospitals, raid school funding and slash benefits for the spouses and children of first responders. At the same time, he tried to cripple the ability of public workers to participate in the political process through their unions, which would have made it impossible for us to mobilize to beat back these and similar attacks.

And in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush turned a disaster into an opportunity to push an ideological agenda. The president quickly released a plan that included half a billion dollars for private school vouchers. He also suspended Davis-Bacon wage protection for construction workers doing relief work, until he was forced to reinstate it. Blue state or red, Democrat or Republican, it’s elected leaders’ actions that count.

These elections are about principles, people and priorities. Former Vice President Hubert Humphrey (who was a member of the AFT) said many years ago that the “moral test of a government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” This remains a constructive measure of our elected leaders today.

You can’t always accurately gauge candidates by their party affiliation, but you can judge them by their actions. The AFT Voting Record for the 109th Congress is included in this publication. I encourage you to see how your elected leaders have voted—and to use that as a basis for whether they have earned your support.

For our democracy to be strong, citizens must be involved. Learn about the issues. Use the AFT Voting Record to educate your family and colleagues. Take part in your local union’s political efforts. Sign up to participate in the AFT e-Activist program (www.aft.org/e-activist). Get involved with AFT’s ACE (Activists for Congressional Education) program, which directly connects lawmakers with AFT constituents. Contact your local union or go to the Count Me In site (www.aft.org/CountMeIn) to volunteer. And, of course, vote.

The AFT will be paying attention to what the candidates who seek our votes have done for healthcare, education, social services and the declining middle class. I hope you will do the same.