Time to replace them all!

I have always been told to get up off your tush if you want to bring about change. If you want to make a difference, you cannot just complain, you must act. And so it was that I found myself writing my congressman, Steve LaTourette, about a concern I had. Act; do something. I, like many others, was told and believed that if you contact your representative, they would at least listen. It turns out that I was wrong. Representative LaTourette is just like every other politician. I am not naive enough to think that he reads every letter sent to him. I hoped that he at least got a synopsis of the letters sent by people in his district. Again, I believe I am wrong. I now believe that if you send a letter to your representative, some over paid staffer reads the letter and totally disregards it. Another staffer then writes a generic letter that doesn’t even address the subject matter from the letter and it is signed,or more likely rubber stamp signature, by someone and sent on its way back to the constituent in hopes of placating them into thinking their representative is listening. Just don’t read the letter sent back. Such was the response I got from an e-mail sent to Mr. LaTourette about introducing legislation to require our elected officials actually read what they are voting on prior to voting; or in other words, do the job they are expected to do. What I got was a generic letter thanking me and letting me know he is, “keeping my opinion in mind should the matter come to the floor”. No mention of the “matter”, just that he will keep it in mind. Put that with an e-mail sent at another time about asking for an investigation into the pork introduced in the stimulus bill and the response that the stimulus bill passed along party lines. No mention of investigation, no mention of anything of substance.

At this point, I must say that I am disappointed with my representation in Congress. As readers of the Opine know, I am not shy about voicing my opinion. I urge people to NOT WRITE their representative. Instead, work to replace your representative with someone who will be responsive to their constituents. If the person doing the job, is not doing a good job, it is our responsibility to fire that person and put in someone who will. If we do not hold them accountable, who will?