What positive developments on the national scene can you point to in the last 5 and a half years that have made you proud to be an American? On September 12, 2001 in the smoldering aftermath of the worst attack on American soil, I stood with our nation and our commander in chief, steadfast that we would respond with certitude and in unison, against the evil that had occurred the day before. Our cause was just and we had the support and military allegiance of a substantial part of the free world. Where has that allegiance gone?
Four and a half years after 9/11 the chief perpetrator of that awful day is still at large. Who stands with us today? Our solidarity was co-opted by a preemptive war that was sold on the basis of "imminent danger" only subsequently to find out that the danger was a mirage fabricated in the dark recesses of a neocon cabal. To this very day, a full accounting of the manipulation of intelligence used to justify that war (which was always about a preordained compulsion for regime change) has yet to occur. In the meantime, some 2500 US soldiers have perished in Iraq, which, as we knew at the time, had nothing to do with 9/11. In the meantime, over $400 billion in US taxpayer money has been spent to support this preemptive war. The now "liberated" Iraqi people, however, have nothing to show for that expenditure other than the removal of an enfeebled dictator and a nascent civil war. The electricity, the oil production, the infrastructure of Iraq is in worse shape now than it was before the invasion. Was the expenditure of US lives worth it? Have you ever asked yourself: "where did the money go?" Did you ever wonder that just maybe it would be worth the Congress's time to oversee how this money has been spent? Why isn't the infrastructure better? Why aren't the streets of Baghdad, Falluja, Tikrit and Haditha safer? Has anyone at all been held to account not only for the misbegotten reasons that we are in Iraq in the first place but why it was managed so poorly to the detriment of our men and women in uniform? Do you, as an American citizen and taxpayer really understand why we're there? Do you feel that $400 billion has been well-spent? More importantly, has any of this actually made you feel safer? The ports? The border? Has the warrantless NSA wiretapping program been a good deal for you in terms of trading liberty for security? Do you even know what it's about? Has Congress done anything to find out?Does it make sense to you that in the face of a $350 billion deficit and an ongoing war that the Congress should be passing another tax cut? Does this Congress really speak to your priorities when it debates a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage when the Gulf Coast reconstruction is still underfunded, 7 million more Americans are without health insurance, gas is $3 per gallon while oil companies reap ever more billions in profits, Karl Rove still has a White House security clearance, and Donald Rumsfeld still has a job? Does it seem odd to you that a congressman is in jail, several are indicted with more to come and the House Ethics committee hasn't even met in over two years?
The republican control of our national government is complete. The executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches (loaded, of course with so-called activist judges) are firmly in GOP hands. Are you better off for that? Will your children be better off? Your grandchildren? Do you think for one minute that a GOP-controlled Congress will do a single positive thing to counter global warming? (Other than to attempt to amend the constitution to prevent flag-burning?). Will any serious work on alternative energy happen? Do you as a member of the reality-based community really believe that this government speaks to your concerns?
This November we have an opportunity to send not only a message to this government, we can actually change it. Contrary to what the Bush-Cheney administration might think about the relevance of Congress, the Congress is, was, and will be, a coequal branch of government. The current Rubber Stamp Republican Congress is not willing or able to push back against Bush-Cheney. But a serious push back is what is sorely needed. This administration will be most marked by history, not by its well-documented and profligate incompetence, but by its relentless pursuit of unfettered executive power. Do you trust any chief executive with the power and secrecy that the Bush administration has claimed for itself? Do you realize that this is the first president since Jefferson, never to veto a single bill? Did you know that for over 750 individual bills that the president has issued a "signing statement" outlining his interpretation of the bill? That these signing statements amount to judicial-like explanation of the law as passed by Congress? Has Congress done anything about this? There is no need to veto when the president picks and chooses how he plans to enforce the law. This resembles another form of government with which Americans are unfamiliar: a monarchy. Other terms could be even more appropriate.
A diligent Congress would not stand for this constitutional dishonor. The Rubber Stamp GOP Congress has enabled this abrogation of constitutional balance and shows no intention whatsoever of correcting it. A Democratically-controlled Congress most certainly would not tolerate this abuse of power. We the people need to reclaim our rightful place as the originators of all laws of the United States and to relegate the executive to the enforcement of those laws. There are constitutional limits to what "the Decider" can decide.
I write to you as a fellow constituent of Rep David Price of the 4th district. He deserves our full support this November. I ask you, however, to look beyond the 4th district and to consider the support of Larry Kissell in the 8th district running against Robin Hayes, as well as Heath Shuler in the 11th running against Charles Taylor. Both of these candidates would bring a breath of fresh air to a fetid House chamber that reeks of corruption, arrogance, and K street cronyism not to mention a reflexive abrogation of constitutional duty. Only 15 net seats in the House need to go Democratic this November to dramatically alter the power structure in Washington. Two of those seats could come from North Carolina. I urge you to do everything you can to support these candidates as well as other progressives running this year.
At the end of the day I have but one question for you. Have you had enough?