Red, White, and Blue in the Face!

Angry, you betcha! Here’s a fax I just sent to my so-called representatives in Albany and Washington:

Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Representative Maffei, Assemblyman Magnarelli :
I am communicating to all of you in response to recent public comments by Senators Schumer and Durbin (Illinois) who evidently believe that me and many, many other Americans like me, are members of a “small fringe group” who don’t want to know the facts, who are not from your state or your district, who are not your constituents. Well, let me tell every one of you that I am a lifelong Democrat, a lifelong proponent of the common good, the little guy and you are the ones who don’t know the facts, who are party patsies, Pelosi and Paterson puppets; you are the ones we don’t want representing us because you’ve lost sight of us. I’m not some right-wing nut or left-wing lunatic, I’m just a regular working guy (I’ve been working full time for more than 40 years and am a Navy and Vietnam veteran) and I am deeply offended by the comments made by Senators Schumer and Durbin and others in the Administration. As an American citizen I have every right to respectfully voice my opinion and let you know how I think and what I believe. If you appear to be ignoring my voice then I have every right to speak more loudly. When I show up at your office or at your town hall meeting (although I believe most of you will not have any public town hall meetings during this August recess) and appear to be angry remember this:
1 – I am angry
2 – My anger is not fabricated
3 – I am your constituent but I’m not so sure you are my representative
I’m going to remain a registered Democrat but you can believe this – none of you and your Democratic dropout friends will be getting my vote or the votes of anyone I can convince with the facts I have at hand. I intend to work actively for change – and this time it will be change for the better, not for the few.
Oh, by the way – did I mention that I’m very angry? I am angry at you and your so-called “majority party” for trying to ram down our throats a significant reform of this country’s health care system – so significant that I want to be able to be informed about it by other than your propaganda (because your words, I am convinced, are not the truth but simply the party and administration “message”); I want my representatives in the U.S. Congress to be informed and not just led by the noses.
I work hard to make a living; I’m working even harder and sacrificing a lot to make sure that *I* pay my own debts – I have not and will not ask for a handout, a bailout, or any kind of “out” like you’ve given the very people who helped get me where I am. You have made me angry by your failure to connect with who I am and what I need. No instead of being in touch with me and those like me you ignore our voices, you smile and offer platitudes, thank us for our letters, emails, phone calls but then IGNORE us and do as you like (or apparently only as you’re told to do). I know absolutely that I am not alone in my anger and that I am not the only voice you are ignoring.
This country needs to take care of health reform – yes – but not at the cost you demand both in dollars and in decency. Do not continue to lie to me that all the information being disseminated about ObamaCare is false – maybe you haven’t “read the bill” but I have and I tell you sincerely that the language in that bill is so broad and so loose that it leaves open the largest crack I’ve ever seen in the door to government control of anything. Period. It is simply not acceptable. And speaking of not acceptable – you intend to take even more of my hard earned money to pay for the killing of children – I am not reassured by the language of “the bill” – it makes no mention of reducing abortions – it makes no mention of abortion at all which simply means that when the time comes there will be no language in the law to keep you from doing whatever you want which I have come to believe is certainly not reducing the number of abortions.
The heavy handedness, arrogance, and pettiness you, your Party, and the Obama administration along with many Republicans have demonstrated since January of this year is nothing short of stunning. All of you are, in no small way, to be held responsible.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
John W. Bowden

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by what’s happening in our culture and our government. So much information, so much activity – who can follow it all? Never mind that we have several levels of government to deal with and that government at all levels is inserting itself into our lives more every day.

How many times have you paused thinking “How will this affect me, I need to find out and speak up” – but then you start to do a little research and quickly get discouraged. A good example is the House Bill on health care reform recently passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Let’s say that amidst a week of taking care of family and earning a living you tried to read the original bill. Over 1,000 pages of legalese that made Congress John Conyers make a stunning admission that he believed it was pointless to read the bill because he didn’t have two days and two lawyers to help him figure out what it says! You managed to scan enough of the bill to determine that it will require more than a week’s worth of evenings to digest and decipher but suddenly it’s the end of the week and the Energy and Commerce Committee have passed out the bill and have changed it! Oh no – how will I find out what the changes are?

See what I mean? Despite the open government initiatives and the so-called transparency President Obama touted during his candidacy it’s virtually impossible to find out many things in time to permit you to contact and comment to your representatives. Sure, there are many organizations that are helpful (some I’ve begun to add to my links in the sidebar) but unfortunately most of them are focused on narrow aspects of many of the pieces of legislation and you won’t get the whole picture from any one of them. Any of you who may be reading this and can point me and others to a single source of legislative updates please do so in the comments! I’m aware of organizations that will provide near-realtime information (for example Gallery Watch)but it comes at a price far too hefty more most of us working class types.

It’s overwhelming isn’t it? Sometimes I believe that’s precisely the effect that’s desired. Too much to absorb so we shave lowly but surely leave everything in the hands of the government and bureaucrats. But only if we allow it and we must not give up government by the people, for the people for government by the few, for the few.

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I will do.” – Edward Hale

what you’re seeing here.

(official White House photo – click the image to visit the White House blog)

Why would I want to spend even *more* time sitting at my computer than I already do? Well, this past week has convinced me that, despite the ill caused by these “infernal machines” (pornography is a shining example of this) they can also render services. Paramount among the services I have found keeping up with my Roman Catholic Christian Faith and keeping up with my Congress are essential. Unless you have been hiding under a rock or in a cave (and who would blame you!) the past few months have demonstrated that without the tools of the modern information age you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in staying abreast of what is happening with either of them.

In the case of my Faith I’ve found so many fellow Catholics on the internet and gobs of great information and tools for learning. Too much to mention in this post but Google Catholic sites or Catholic blogs and you’ll find a universe of the Universal Church replete with links and resources enough to make your heart sing. I’ll do my best to share some of what I’ve found and will find.

In the case of my Congress – well, let’s just say I feel a compelling need to keep an eye on what they are or are not doing. My sense is that they are not doing what they should and are doing a lot of what they should not! Whatever I discover in this respect I will also attempt to share.

So I plan to use this space to blog about my experiences keeping the vigil both for God and Country.  I simply do not believe that our great country, The United States of America, came to be without God’s providence and I sincerely believe that we *must* turn to God in every aspect of our lives in order for this country to continue and we cannot turn away from God to satisfy the lust of a few to toss God out of first the public square and then the hearth and home.

May God help us; may He grant us the grace of His continued providence and may all of us come to see that God is love and love is all we need!