A memo to our elected officials…
•We’re sick of political parties and their bickering. They stop progress, steal time and money from us and generally waste our time.
•We’d like to really be free to vote for who we want in every stage of the election process, but that requires fixing the primary system. Right now you guys are missing out on potential support because of this.
•We wish you were all trustworthy, but have basically given up on this and now consider most of you to be crooks. Yup, we really don’t trust you guys (and gals) anymore. There are a very few exceptions to this. Very, very few.
•The fact that important legislation gets killed because some clown tacked on something irrelevant and possibly insane to it, makes all of us angry. It does not make us respect our legislators.
•It also makes us angry to know that you no longer work for us, your constituents, but for lobbyists and their overlords.
•We are not impressed when you choose a token concern with which to make your name when you really could care less about the cause and those who really do support it.
•It would be outstanding to see someone in office with a backbone who is willing to do the right thing instead of simply pushing everyone around.
•You might find it easier to sleep at night knowing you did the right thing instead of the same old thing as all the other people who have managed to get themselves elected to office.
•Being a complete weasel will always cost you more than you think. It will cost you more than votes, but then respect probably doesn’t matter to you anyway. We are not numbers, we are human beings. We have feelings, needs, desires and rights, just like our elected officials.
•A lot of us practice some sort of faith and believe in a higher power.
•We also believe in science and think it is a wonderful thing.
•We realize there are radicals on each side of every issue including religion and science. We are not these people, they are a minority and do not speak for most of us.
•We are not as stupid as you like to think we are.
•We pay attention more than you think we do.
•Try to occasionally think about what the American people actually care about. It could lead to periodic epiphany and more success in your political career.
•If you do the right thing we WILL support you, no matter what the media have to say about it.
AOL/XM Radio XM Cafe is playing: I Don’t Need No Doctor from “That’s What I Say: John Scofield Plays the Music of Ray Charles” by John Scofield (with John Mayer)