An Open Letter to Congress

It's summer. 100 degree days, sunblock and swimming pools, sweat dripping down my blue collar nose as I hammer on through the heat and humidity that is July in New York.

So why do I smell November in the air?

'Cause it's comin', brother. (Can ya smell it?) The elections are coming, and our dedicated representatives in DC are just about ready to totally abandon any real work that needs to be done, so they can focus on re-election. Now, it's not like it's a slow time and you can sneak out without anyone noticing - no, there's some pretty important stuff going on - there are some big issues that really need some fixing - and we need some brave folks up there with the courage of one's convictions - defined as having enough courage and determination to carry out one's goals.

Damn. That's in short supply. But hey, I get it - who wants to rock the boat when their job is on the line? Ummmm...any politician with any self respect left that still gives a crap about actually acting for the good of the country? Yeah...that guy's getting my vote.

It's hard to be courageous when you're looking down the barrel of a pink slip.


Or it's easy.

A favorite mantra of Daddy's is, "The most dangerous man in the world is the man who has nothing left to lose". Because you can't take anything from that man; he has nothing left to take. He has been stripped clean of anything you might use to threaten him and stands before you, purified, even strengthened by fire, and able to swat down your puny assaults as he would a fly.

If this is a hard state of mind to imagine, it's only because we don't see it as often as we used to. It seems that, in a lot of ways, complacency has taken the place of courage. As long as it's not in my backyard, as long as I didn't lose my job, as long as my house isn't being foreclosed on, as long as my children don't die in that war, or that hurricane, or from lack of health insurance...

Then everything is okay.

And as long as I get re-elected, everything will continue to be...Okay. And when they ask me to contradict myself, to lie, to flip flop on issues that are near and dear to my heart because it will make the other guy look bad; when they ask me to sell out my country for a few bucks, I will kiss them full on the mouth, bend over and say...Okay.

Well, I'm here to tell you guys - it is not fucking Okay.

Our elected officials prattle on about "The Will of the American People" like they actually have any idea what that is anymore. You cannot be simultaneously out of touch and have your finger on the pulse of America. When Senator Jim Bunning equates the pain of missing his favorite college basketball team play with the pain of no longer having unemployment benefits coming in and wondering how you are now going to pay for FOOD - that is out of touch. When Joe Barton, on the tv, radio and in front of everybody, apologizes to BP's Tony Hayward for the government's audacity in asking BP to pay for its mess, that is just ludicrously out of touch. When John Boehner likens our financial crisis to a problem the size of an ant - I could go on and on - y'know, when I was in school and people were this out of touch with reality, we wouldn't let them drive home and they needed a friend to stay with them until they came down. When did we start electing Cheech and Chong to run the country?

The sad truth is, they're not stoned. They are Corporate Owned Puppets, and until we cut the strings of corporate control, we will continue to be on the receiving end of every corporate shit storm to come down the pike.

Here are words I never thought I'd say - The Tea Party is Right. We do need to take our country back. But not, as they would assert, back from the clutches of Socialist/Nazi/Pinko/Commie/Junkie/FagHags. I get the whole "Taxed Enough Already" - I feel that way too sometimes. But how about, instead of cutting social programs that help our poorest and most in need, we instead fairly tax those wealthy corporations that currently pay little to no tax at all? Wouldn't you like Exxon to pay its fair share? Or Haliburton? Or BP? We need to make that happen. We need to rescue our country from the hands of Corporate America, and the lobbyists that it sends forth like maggots onto flesh. We need to fight back against ridiculous legalities that grant corporations the same rights as people. Any time our voices are not heard, we must speak louder, and clearer; and if we are still not heard, we must take matters into our own hands and effect that change that we wish to see, that change that we know must be to make our country great again.

This is my rallying cry - let it start our soundtrack of the American Revolution against the Corporations.

"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs."

~Albert Einstein

Sincerely,

A middle aged Anarchist