My Two Cents

Here are the comments that I made at the Town Hall. Due to nerves (I didn't prepare) and the time limit, I gave a slightly abbreviated version of what I am posting.

Justice and Term Limits

“Honorable” Senators Bayh and Lugar,

The American people are being asked to trust that the 1000+ page Health Care Bill being put forward is in the best interest of all – rich and poor, red and yellow, black and white. I would like to ask one simple question – WHY SHOULD WE TRUST YOU? Look around your at colleagues and the political leaders around the country and give us one good reason. Corruption and immorality seem to be the rule and not the exception. This has infected all levels of government on both sides of the aisle.

Choosing examples for wasn’t easy – not that examples were hard to find, but there were just too many to choose from. So to keep it simple I’ll just mention a few names. Let’s see there’s:

Charlie – I keep finding money – Rangle

William – Cold Cash – Jefferson

Ted – Extreme Makeover – Stevens

Tim – Turbo Tax – Geithner

Bill – I did not have sex with that woman – Clinton

Mark – She’s my soul mate – Sanford

John – it’s not my kid – Edwards

Larry – Wide Stance – Craig

Rod – ya wanna buy a slightly abused Senate seat – Blagojevich

Barney – I have to pay for it - Frank

There’s not enough time to going into the Republicans licking Jack Abramoff’s hand, nor the Democrats that can’t balance their check books and seemed to think that House of Representatives Bank gives out interest free loans. One final name and then I’ll move on. (No offense toward Democrats intended.) Yes, I admit that this final example was not illegal, but I think it was immoral and criminally stupid: President Barak – The police acted stupidly – Obama. Was that incident racist or just stupid? You be the judge.

Yes, many are prosecuted, but many are not. We have Black Panthers skating after being shown on video intimidating voters. Tax cheats, well that seems to qualify you for a position in the Executive Branch. Hands are slapped one minute, while backs are slapped the next. We have been pretty blessed in Indiana and the amount of scandal has been limited. The two of you are shining examples compared to those that I have mentioned, but don’t get too full of yourselves. They haven’t really set the bar all that high.

No one in Senate nor in the House seems to be outraged. There should be a zero tolerance policy for breaking the public’s trust. You should run these people out of office on a rail. Our children should be able to look up to our elected leaders, but… Damn, congress should have a R or a NC-17 rating. I do not hold just our government at fault; we all, the American people, enable this behavior. After all, we continue to elect these idiots to office.

Now I am coming to the point of this tirade. I ask for you, Senators, to support two things. No, I respectfully demand that you support two things.

The first is justice! Enforce the laws you and your colleagues create. I’m not asking you to hold yourselves to a higher standard than everyone else; that would be nice, but let’s take baby steps. Start by holding yourselves to the same standards that the average American is held to. When there is evidence of wrong doing, work quickly to get to the heart of the matter and then kick out those that are convicted. Look at Cold Cash Jefferson as an example. He was caught on video tape in 2005, the FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer matching that given to an informant, and he was finally convicted in August of this year. This is ridiculous.

My second demand, term limits. Term limits do two things. First they protect us from you. It minimizes the amount of time that those unscrupulous officials have to abuse the system to increase their power and wealth. Elected office should not be a career, but only a brief opportunity for service. Second, they protect us from ourselves. See we in Indiana can only vote the two of you out of office – we need your help with everyone else. Do you think Barney Frank would still be in office if we had a say in his election?

Again you ask us to trust you with a bill that is more than 1000 pages long. Heaven only knows what is hidden in there disguised in the legalese. Trust is earned and I’m sorry to say Congress is coming up short. You want our trust? Then give us justice and term limits. Once you do that, come back and we’ll talk.