posted
Wednesday Glenn Beck read a letter sent in by a viewer. It's an open letter to Washington. So far over 70,000 people have signed their names to it. It's long, but for those who are concerned with what's happening in Washington today, it's probably worth the five minutes required to read it.
Please comment, pros and cons.
quote: Glenn Beck: The Letter
GLENN: I got a letter from a woman in Arizona. She writes an open letter to our nation's leadership: I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?
Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:
One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.
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Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.
Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.
Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.
Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!
Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.
Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.
Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?
Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.
Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.
Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.
From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.
posted
wow good stuff - admittedly I cringed a little when I read the charity bit. Yet she has a point people in their area know whats needed. The also need to be trained and supported.
Posts: 1460 | Registered: Dec 2008
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not as great a thing - its all about the party then as the people come and go. It also shifts power to party presidents that we as a people do 'not' vote in, we have a 2 term limit here in australia and well - its not a very good system as I have explained.
Posts: 1460 | Registered: Dec 2008
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Ya know, people rail upon "professional politicians." But the deal is, some of them are good at what they do.
It's just the stupid losers we want to get rid of, but the Californians keep voting them in. What ya gonna do?
I would say, instead of making hard and fast rules which take away the need for the electorate to think, I would propose the following rules:
"TV watching time limit for the entire electorate."
And
"Required study time for the electorate, so they're not a bunch of stupid sheep voting for the guy who gives his wifey the most passionate smooch at the Democratic National Convention, or the cutest candiate, or the lady who happened to find Harvey Milk dead because she came to work first."
But expecting an informed electorate may be asking a bit much.
posted
Sorry, even the best and brightest are tainted by power. People go to Washington as visionaries and turn into career politicians. The fact that neither party has ever pressed for the issue tells you they fear it. Other reasons I could list would be in the form of actual names.
I would say three terms for Senators and 6 terms for Representatives. Just enough time to learn the system then go home. It works for the executive branch; I say apply it to the legislative.
Posts: 258 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
Okay so the letter writer appears to favor a mostly libertarian agenda. Oh and what's with the ad for Mr. Beck's book in the middle of the letter?
She makes some good valid points. Others I strongly disagree with and could thus not sign that letter.
And Term Limits really are not the answer. An educated, involved and engaged electorate is. As long as we have people who don't bother to vote, or even worse vote for or against someone based on their race or religion or any other non-issue policy we will continue downhill.
Same thing for as long as we let the Media direct the course of campaigns and elections, picking this so called controversy to harp on non-stop while ignoring equal or greater controversies because it hurts the media's preferred candidates.
Focus on the issues pertaining to the job the candidates are running for. Focus on what the candidates are proposing to try to accomplish, and whether or not they have the skills and or experience to accomplish it. Not on what their kids are doing, or their pets, or whatever.
Posts: 2912 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
Not to worry. I'm not confused on that point.
But I seem to recall that someone rather closely connected to God said that we are to give to others more than is asked even if the gift is compulsory in the first place.
Posts: 224 | Registered: May 2004
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quote: But I seem to recall that someone rather closely connected to God said that we are to give to others more than is asked even if the gift is compulsory in the first place.
I noticed years ago that the instructions for filling out your 401K mention that you can make a gift to the Treasury, and tell you how to do it. How's that worked out for you, Shelby?
Edit: I meant my 1040, of course. Consider the question suitably modified.
I don't have a 401(k), so I guess it's worked out okay for me. What about you, Valjean?
quote: If you're referring to those verses in the sermon on the mount about the cloak and the mile, then you're referring to Jesus's instructions about discipleship.
That's what I'm referring to. Think carefully about what Christ is saying. The kind of demand He was referring to would have come from a despotic government (or the agents of a despotic government) that could not have been replaced by an election.
In spite of that, He says, you have to do more than is required of you. There is no mention of divine approval for the government's action being necessary, or even relevant: if you're going to be a disciple, this is what you have to do.
You can compare it to what happens when we have been offended by another person. It doesn't matter whether we're justified in being angry, or if the other person feels any remorse. We have to forgive the other person. Period. What is happening, or not happening, on the other end of the situation does not affect our obligation. That is a fairly common theme for discipleship in general.
Posts: 224 | Registered: May 2004
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quote:Don't change the Constitution. Engage the citizens.
Isn't this key? An informed electorate is a force to be reckoned with. I think politics has become passe in some respects. How many Americans even know what is in the Constitution beyond "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"
Posts: 3711 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Everyone will soon be taxed at 70% to provide health-care like the politicians want to dictate. The true costs of their plans will be astronimical.
Posts: 3497 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
I think the only way term limits should be instituted is as an amendment to the Constitution. I favor them, because I don't trust institutionalized politicians--even those of my own party after they've demonstrated skullduggery in office (Orrin Hatch for example). Yes, it would be nice if the public were better informed--but sadly, most would rather know who's winning on Dancing With the Stars than become knowledgeable about current political/societal trends.
posted
Term limits for legislators are simply a bad idea. We've had them in California for almost 20 years now and the benefits, if any, have been negligible. We still have career politicians; they just run for a different office when they get termed out of the old one. At the same time, the effectiveness of the legislature is even less than 20 years ago, because of the constant turnover in leadership positions. If anything, term limits have undermined the system of checks and balances by shifting more power to the executive branch. Not a desirable outcome in my opinion.
Posts: 5994 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I am curious, though I like the idea of term limits, how exactly it will help thing. If anything it may create a whole new set of politicians...
Posts: 13080 | Registered: Oct 98
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posted
...sometime I think that congress would be more interesting if the candidates for election to Congress were picked randomly like a lotto of some sort, and then the voters decided among those candidates. If anything it would be entertaining...
Posts: 13080 | Registered: Oct 98
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posted
If term limits were in place, what kind of person would run for Senator or Representative? Gone are the "good old days" when people ran because of a sense of "civic duty."
I think what you would end up with are old retired rich people, and the government would end up being run by career "aids" that are un-elected, but carried over from one election to another. Similar to what happens in presidential elections now.
posted
I once read an alternate future story where all the qualified people to act as politician were put into a pot and a name was randomly selected. And the sure way to get your name removed from the pot was to express a desire for power.
The one line that has stuck the most strongly with me was a citizen of the country expressing the notion that the best presidents were the ones that fought the hardest to stay out. Said something like, "Kicking and screaming, that's the way we like 'em. Get in their do a good job and get out."
However, like many sci-fi writers this is a cynical view of humanity in that the assumption is that there are no genuine people who want to serve.
But, still the idea has a certain appeal. Gets rid of costly elections.
Posts: 10893 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
That sounds like one of L. E. Modesitt's books. As I recall it, whoever got selected for the presidency also then had to spend a year doing labor-intensive public works in his local community for each year s/he spent in the presidency, thus adding further disincentive to wanting to "have the power" since it effectively meant a prison sentence after you got out of office.
On the one hand it's a bit extreme. On the other. . . I can't say I completely think it's a bad idea either.
Posts: 1331 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
It's kinda like jury duty... all the best would-be jurors do everything in their power to get out of it... cuz they have a life.
Posts: 13080 | Registered: Oct 98
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