To Senators Corker and Alexander:
In the October 24th USA Today in the "Today's debate: Congressional ethics" found on page 10A the author mentions that Senator Stevens and Representative Mahoney personify arrogance and bad judgment. In the article the author writes about Congress's abysmally low approval rating (14% in a Gallup Poll this summer) and gives Stevens and Mahoney as the reason the perception the public has is that once politicians go to Washington they join an elite that believes the rules don't apply to them.
The author mentions "In truth, most members of Congress are dedicated public servants who work long hours and play by the rules"; "there is no shortage of members who justify the stereotype."
I disagree. I believe most members of Congress are dedicated to no-one but themselves, and that they do believe the rules do not apply to them, including you and here are my reasons.
As you know, we have never met, I do not know you. You may be a very likable man you may be more intelligent than the average but as we know as with Bill Clinton being likable and intelligent does not transfer to ethics, honesty, morality, character.
As members of congress you have voted yourselves a better retirement, and better health care than your constituents, the people who elected you. How did you do that? You did it because you could. You and your fellow senators and house members have assigned to yourselves perks most of your constituents can only dream of. You truly live beyond the rules.
As members of congress you stonewall investigations and protect your fellow members. You do that: because you expect your fellow members to protect you. Protect you from whom: your constituents, the people who trust you, who voted for you. Congress needs to look at West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy and many universities and develop an honor code that has teeth.
Congress is a fraternity or a union and seniority means privileges and power. That must be stopped. Assignments should be for no longer than one year with no member permitted to serve more than one time during a congressional term. Members of congress do not vote the way their constituents prefer, they do not even vote their conscience, they vote the way their leaders tell them to vote. When they must choose between their party leaders and their constituents they choose their party leaders. Like a herd of water buffalo they circle to protect the vulnerable from public scrutiny. That is they circle to protect the criminal from the media and the law.
I encourage congress to cancel their retirement package and cancel their health care plans and live under the same rules the rest of us live under, maybe then you will understand.
Power does not make character power allows individuals to display character. That there are so many of your fellow members violating basic morals, ethics, and honesty and the fact that the rest protect them and that members of congress such as Obama, Biden, McCain can run for another job and at the same time be paid for not doing the job to which they were elected, that you can vote 'present' when a 'yes' or 'no' is required, is evidence congress is corrupt and must change or be changed.
Martin Luther King said something about good people who do nothing. Good people doing nothing means they are no longer good people.
Regards,
John Jenkins
John Jenkins
865-803-8179 cell
Gatlinburg, TN
Email: jrjenki@yahoo.com
Email: jrjenki@yahoo.com
Fibonacci: It's as easy as 1,2,3.
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