Congress must recuse itself!

There is clearly a conflict of interest in the struggle to clean corruption out of Congress. The voters flipped the majority/minority status in 2006 and, incidentally, "flipped a bird" at the GOP. Clearly, they voted AGAINST the republicans (maybe more than they voted FOR the democrats). Unfortunately, some of the Dems have behaved as Bush did in 2004, when he erroneously said he had been "given a mandate to govern". No, Dems, you were given not a "mandate", but a golden opportunity. And I'm asking you now: Why you are wasting it?

Dear Federal Officeholder:

Part of the reason why you are wasting it is because many of the votes on critical issues involved, directly or indirectly, corporations that contributed to your campaign (or from whom you want contributions, in the future). It's difficult to bite the hand that feeds you, isn't it? Or at least the hand that fills your campaign coffers. How do you vote "for" a bill that will go "against" an entity that has given you thousands and thousands of dollars? If you think that we believe, for one second, that the money came to you because they REALLY like you, or that your centrist or populist stand agrees with their own, think again, Mr&Ms Democrat! We know too well that they want something from you, something that they can't buy in the general marketplace: access to power. Not ordinary power but power to change laws, exemptions from rules/regulations, access to government contracts, phony public perception, even forgiveness. And if we didn't know about this before, the GOP has taught us this lesson, nearly every day, for more than ten years. The earmarks, the under-the-table deals, the "scratch my back...", Abramoff/DeLay/Ney/Cunningham felons (three in prison; one to go) and the Hunter/Feeney investigations that are heating up - well, consider this our "learning curve".

So, how can Congress clean up the House and Senate? We've proposed term limits - you didn't like that. You passed McCain/Feingold - since that was just "altered" by the neocon SCOTUS, ask the Senate how it happened; the history books will be all over that for the next century. You've made little bleats about controlling the lobbyists - but none of your little twitches will "muck out the stables" one damned bit! Asking the members of Congress to police themselves is like asking Larry Flynt to become a censor. (Sincere apologies for using your name, Mr. Flynt. Your grasp of freedom of speech issues exceeds that of 5/9ths of the SCOTUS!)

My point is this: running for re-election every two (or four or six) years, you have a vested interest in getting money wherever and however you can, subject to Federal Election regulations. (By the way, the FEC only provides transparency; the corrupting influence of money is still rampant. And don't think we haven't noticed that nifty little "money-laundering" trick you guys perform! It's illegal to use your PAC money on your campaigns. So, in order to "clean" it, you give money from your PAC to another politician's campaign war chest who is happy to "scratch your back" in return. That is shameful! Did you learn that from Hot-TubTom?) It seems your life revolves around your next election - but NOT doing the People's Bidding. When your money comes from BigBizness, but you campaign to be elected by "the mythical LittlePeople", you are hoist upon your own petard. You are like a faithless mistress...or, even, like a "mole", secretly planted to implement nefarious schemes...

My remedy is simple: Recuse yourselves on this issue. You can't be trusted to do it. Let us vote on Election/Campaign/Lobbying reform. Let We the People decide how, and how thoroughly, Congress should be cleaned.

We know how hard this struggle will be; it's always difficult to deny your sweethearts' their heart's desires. Let us do it for you. Let us finance your campaigns, with our own tax dollars. We'll tell the media that they can't gouge you (us!) and reap obscene profits every other year (something they've grown so dependent on, it's become an "election cycle entitlement program"!), many of whom already get their licenses to broadcast on our dime, anyway.

But you will have to accept something that will cause you real pain: we'll level the playing field, so that challengers have a better chance against the "tyranny of the incumbency" (read: bloated war chest). It'll be your voting record, your ideas and ideals against someone else's, duking it out on the campaign trail and in the voting booth.

Whaddya say? Will you do it for the good of the country? Can you stop thinking about yourself and your party, and remember the oath you took to our Constitution? They're not "merely words", you know. It's not "just a god-damned piece of paper", to quote President Godsend. It is, by far, the strongest piece of paper ever written by Man and for Man - not just man and corporation.

Put it to a vote of the people. Let us show you how to make a better and stronger America.