Your A.R.M. is costing me mine…
I wrote my Congressman today because Mike Simpson voted in favor of the Economic Bailout Bill. No, I didn’t thank him. Well, I did thank him, but not for his Aye vote on the bill. Here’s the entirety of my letter to him:
Mr. Simpson, I appreciate that it is important to you to communicate with your district. I also appreciate your service to our State and Country. Please understand that I am not questioning your motives or Patriotism- I am, however, questioning your judgment. I have read your statement regarding the Economic Bailout Bill.
The monies for rural communities lashed to this bill were nothing more than classic pork-barrel spending. Those monies are due to rural Idaho, but not with this type of legislation attached to it. Shame on you and your compatriots that cast Aye’s for this legislation.
Mr. Simpson, I was born and raised in a Christian and Conservative home. And I’m sure you and I hold very similar values. One of the strongest values I was raised with was to live within your means. Our government can’t and refuses to do this. In the recent weeks, Congress has dumped another $1 Trillion to the already staggering deficit of $10.1 Trillion. We, as a nation, are living beyond our means. Living on credit. Borrowing from other countries. The Bible states in Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” Mr. Simpson, is this principle not true? Why then have you and your counterparts in Congress enslaved us more? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR THINKING!?
Finally, Mr. Simpson, since I have been raised in the matter that I mentioned, I have typically voted for the Republican Candidate in most elections. This will not be the case come November. I will not cast my vote for you. You, Mr. Simpson, have lost my vote. I believe I have stated my reasons, and I stand by my decision.
Now you may not think much of my lost vote, or you may think that your opponent doesn’t stand a chance. Let me run the numbers by you Mr. Simpson, just in case you want to consider them. I have lived in the Treasure Valley for nearly all my life, sans 2.5 years spent in Colorado. I grew up here. I know people. I have a Facebook account and on that account I have over 600 “Friends”. Some are indeed people I speak with and interact with regularly, others are little more than acquaintances. My point: Facebook has over 100 million active users. That’s less than 2% of the world’s population, or 25-30% of the US population. Mr. Simpson, do you really believe that I only know, have met, and can contact at a moments notice merely 600 people? Of course you don’t. By a conservative estimate those 600+ people represent only 5% of the actual people in my sphere of influence. Sure a few votes probably won’t make that much of a difference, but would 6,000?
It’s time, Mr. Simpson that this government did what it was created to do- be of the people, by the people and for them. Government should know that the only thing keeping them in position is the people whose backs they’re riding on! Change is coming Mr. Simpson, but it won’t happen in the White House. No- it will happen with people like me that are tired of a dead system. Good day.
Very sincerely,
Nick Shoemaker
Yes, I believe this Economic Bailout Bill is a form of slavery. Requiring me to pay for the poor (at best) business decisions of a few is not only ridiculous, but is by very definition Socialism. Don’t believe me? I’ll save you the forage through a dictionary:
Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
A.K.A.- it’s every ones problem. Wait just a stinkin minute! Why is it my responsibility that a bank loaned someone the money to buy a home on an A.R.M., when that person(s) wouldn’t have qualified for that same loan without the A.R.M.? Answer: Its not!
I think what’s more absurd in this instance is that our Representatives think they can get away with this junk. I don’t think they really believe that we would not re-elect them. Senator Larry Craig (yes, that Larry Craig) stated that he would step down from office after his exploit couldn’t be merely swept under the political rug, but then quickly recanted his announcement stating that he had fought too long and hard and that Idaho would lose greatly if he were to step down at that time because of his various positions held in the Senate. Rather the Senator did the “chivalrous” thing and chose to not run for re-election. WOW. What a hero. Really? Please.
What would happen if we the people decided that misrepresentation was over? Answer: Revolution. (And yes I am referencing the American Revolution. Does taxation without representation ring a bell? If not- GO READ A STINKIN HISTORY BOOK!)
Oh. I added a new category. Its entitled The Man. Go figure.
I laughed out loud, twice. You a funny man.
1. The fact that you ended your letter with “Good day”.
2. The use of all capitals in your last paragraph, as though you are jumping off your chair yelling at anyone who hasn’t heard of the American Revolution.
Unfortunately, the bailout does not amount to socialism, especially not by the definition you gave, it is WORSE!! What’s going on with the bailout is reverse Robin-Hood, taking from the poor (the taxpayers) and giving to the rich (the wealthy financiers). And the reason we are in this mess is that, rather than the government serving as a stabilizing agent, leveling the playing field, its policies (over the last 30 years) have instead tipped the balance of the market, to the extent that it ran amok and is facing total collapse. As the bailout is becoming a “buy-in” strategy, it now is looking more like socialism, but this is considered a better alternative to what was originally proposed by most economic experts. Overall the problem is not socialism, and it’s not capitalism… both strategies (socialism in the form of Russian Communism, market capitalism currently in the West) have and are proving to be flawed systems of economics, not in theory but in practice. The good thing about capitalism is that it is more nimble and can self-correct. The bad thing is that it is based on the notion of growth, a fundamentally unsustainable concept. Growth and decay are two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately, our form of warped capitalism seems to need the crutch of socialism to prevent its collapse.