A post-election open letter to the US Congress
Dear United States Congresspeople,
Now that the election is over, how about actually doing the will of the people, instead of the will of the business entities that may be funding your future campaigns?
No filibusters. No obstructions. No policy statements from one party specifically to disrupt the other. How about doing some lawmaking? And not just deregulating the businesses promising to fund your next election – actual, factual lawmaking.
Try some of these on for size:
Taxation. How about taxing the extremely rich more proportionately? Rather than offering more cuts, how about doing something to attempt to generate some income, so we can have less debt? For example – do a better job of taxing the rich in a more proportionate manner to their income.
That, by the way, goes for big business, too. If you are a corporation making billions of dollars in PROFIT (which, let’s not forget, is money above and beyond operating expenses), you should not be getting any tax breaks. UNLESS, let’s try this – you must create at least 100,000 jobs that pay $40,000 a year plus benefits. Yes, that will cost said business more than $4 BILLION dollars – however, if you are making profits around $21 BILLION dollars a year – is this REALLY going to hurt you? I think not. AND you will stimulate the economy, so – win-win, in truth. Less greed would be a VERY good thing.
Because let’s face it. Greed is why the economy is in the state it has been. Greed is why the job market is the mess that it is. How about doing something to make the greedy loosen their fists some? How about encouraging and rewarding fairness, cooperation and generosity?
Social Security. Rather than seeking new means to sustain this, why not begin with the REALLY obvious solution? Did you know that after someone earns $108,000 dollars a year, they pay no additional SS tax? That means if you earn even $120,000 a year, you don’t pay social security tax for that $12,000 you earn above that. Now apply that to people who make over $200,000 a year. Can you imagine how much more would be collected for social security if they remove the ceiling on the tax? How about THAT?
Infrastructure. The infrastructure is in serious need of maintenance! How about getting out of the 20th century and taking care of getting our power grid, our roads, trains and canals updated, so we don’t get cast into a 3rd world nation whenever nature acts up?
And while we’re at it – let’s have some support for research and development into things like solar, wind, geothermal and wave energy sources. Let’s stop relying on coal and oil and other dirty power sources (which science shows contributes to climate change – which contributes to hurricanes and tornadoes and off-season snow storms and such) and start taking advantage of renewable resources.
Marijuana. I don’t care what side of this debate you are on – marijuana was made illegal NOT because it is an illicit drug – but because the cotton industry was feeling threatened by hemp early last century, and lobbied for this substance to be made an illegal narcotic. Let’s look at the BILLIONS of dollars our government spends annually policing the drug. But if you made pot legal, then someone could start making marijuana cigarettes – and then you can tax them. Hemp rope, hemp clothing – all taxable items. Instead of SPENDING billions on this, the government could be EARNING billions in revenue.
Health care. The problem with health care in this country is the insurance companies. They, of course, don’t want anyone to realize this, and they contribute a LOT of money to the various politicians to keep it that way. They are a FOR PROFIT industry, my friends. That is why our health care system in this country is such a mess – because it is no longer about our health and welfare, it is about the money. Our focus is backwards when it comes to this matter, too. We do not encourage preventative care and maintenance – we only encourage getting things fixed when broken. But as any car owner knows, if you do not do care and maintenance, when it breaks (and it WILL break) it will cost twice as much to fix than if you HAD maintained it. Our bodies are NO DIFFERENT.
Education. How about taking less interest in test scores, and more interest in the quality of the education of the people of this nation? Why don’t you put less tax dollars into the military and political campaigns, and more into teachers and school systems? We are continuing to slip further and further in the rankings worldwide, and we should be FAR more concerned and far more interested in doing something about this. I know that teaching critical thinking makes it harder for you to remain in control, but how about actually thinking about the future health of the nation, intellectually?
Term limits. I KNOW you will not do this, because it will put you out of a job. HOWEVER – it has become clear that with you constantly running for reelection, you seem to only give a relatively small amount of time to actually DOING that job. SO – I think we need to limit just how often you can SERVE in these roles. And yes, the word IS serve – you are elected to an office as a PUBLIC SERVANT, making and passing laws to better our nation – NOT to line your pockets or the pockets of those who fund you and your reelections. We the people need a government by and for US, not by and for corporate interests and the extremely wealthy.
We are a DEEPLY divided nation. The results of this election bring that into striking clarity. And frankly, you are responsible for a large portion of that. Because in you own self interests, or the interests of those who fund you, you are working to put yourselves in office, or to remove others. You don’t govern the people as you are elected to do. And as comfortable as you clearly are with this, you are utterly ignoring the history preceding you. The system cannot sustain itself on greed and patronage and lies. It WILL collapse. You can stop this. You can do something to prevent this. IF you have the courage and conviction to do the bidding of the people.
While we are at it, let’s talk about the things you do NOT need to give any focus to.
Abortion and reproductive health. Again, I do not care if you are pro-life, pro-choice, or what-have-you – government does NOT belong here. PERIOD (pun intended). Government cannot and should not be telling women what they can do with their bodies. Birth control, abortion, does not matter – the government has NO RIGHT AT ALL to dictate, control, or regulate these things. Stop interfering with these matters – especially as MEN who cannot even experience these things. A woman has the RIGHT to make whatever choices she cares to when it comes to her body. END OF STORY. So leave it be.
Gay marriage. WHY does the government care if two people want to marry one another but happen to be the same gender? It should not matter – if a man and a man or a woman and woman choose to unite in marriage – THEY SHOUD HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO SO! This is the suffragist movement and the civil rights movement ALL OVER AGAIN. Guess which side won this those times? Rather than even getting involved in this, how about doing the right thing and coming out on the side of history?
Which brings us to the reason both gay marriage and abortion/reproductive health are even topics of conversation:
Religion. There is separation of church and state FOR A REASON. We are a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindis, Wiccans, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists – YOU NAME IT. All of these are represented in this nation, and NONE of them get a louder or more represented voice in our government. Or rather, none of them SHOULD. STOP trying to put your values system into our political structure – IT DOES NOT BELONG. Church and state are SEPARATE, and need to remain so.
The state of our nation is not eroding due to a lack of Christian or other religious ethic – it is eroding because NO ONE cares to be accountable for their actions. It is eroding because GREED and special interests are dominating our corporate, business AND religious institutions. It is eroding because we are not properly supporting the education of the people of this nation. It is eroding because rather than attempting to mend our differences and work together, you are supporting greater and greater divides between us.
PLEASE, dear members of congress, work FOR the people, as you are empowered to do. PLEASE stop letting the greed and the money corrupt you and your purpose. Work together to heal the wounds dividing the nation. Work together, and try to turn things around so that the American Dream might actually be able to become the American Reality.
With sincerest hope,
An Average American.
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