Dear Mr. Obama,
First of all, I'd like to apologize to you. You might wonder what a normal, within-the-law sort of gal such as myself might have to be sorry for - sorry enough,in fact, to pen this letter. My sorrow and remorse has nothing actually to do with my own personal actions ... welll, except for the actions I have taken in the voting booth over the last few years.
Granted, most of the candidates I choose never get elected. I am a registered Democrat (only so that I can vote in the primaries - I consider myself to be more of an Independent), and I typically research all of the candidates who up for election to the House and the Senate from my area of Florida, and then I vote for the ones who seem to be the least stupid of the lot. This is a practice I adopted after I finally figured out that the only real differences between the two parties here in the US are positions on abortion, gun control, government-sponsored medical care and taxes. Everything else is just window dressing. I try to vote for those who seem they will actually evaluate a bill and really think about its pros and cons and its impact on their constituency before voting. After the ridiculous antics I have seen played out in Congress over the past year, however; I realize that it really doesn't matter at ALL who ANY of us citizens vote for! As soon as they are elected and sworn into office, these US Representatives and US Senators behave like bratty children, stopping their ears to any sort of compromise and deliberately obfuscating every point put to debate. At times I have been hard-pressed to believe that Congress is being powered by anything other than itinerant five-year-olds.
My apology to you, sir, is that we elected these supposedly smart and educated men and women to do a job they are apparently incapable of. I am sorry that the majority of them seem unable to listen to what the American people want and need. I am sorry that none of them are adult enough to act in a real spirit of compromise, because from where I stand, that is the ONLY way that the issues on the table right now - specifically, revising our broken and limping health care system - are going to be resolved. Denying that there is a problem or spreading scurrilous rumors to trick your constituency into thinking that the issues are something other than they are is cowardly and disingenuous. Why are politicians so afraid of change? Have any of THEM ever spent time with no medical insurance? Have they been faced with the outrageous cost of COBRA coverage after leaving a job? Been bankrupted from an inability to even come close to paying overdue medical expenses? Had to forgo care for themselves or their children simply because there wasn't affordable care available to them? And the American people don't want or need a change???
Again, I'm sorry, Mr. President. We have sent you a whole contingent of people to help you to shape the changes of which this country is sorely in need. Instead, you have a crowd of men and women who can't agree on any details that might lead to something the rest of the country would look upon as progress. Instead, they bicker about dollars and cents and abortion rights and socialism and welfare abuse, and the citizens of this country are left to wait and wonder why we ever voted for any of these people, and if anything will ever change up there on Capitol Hill. Instead, you have politicians more concerned with holding up a bill's progress than creating something that satisfies some of the needs of each side and MOST of the needs of this country's poor and destitute. From here, it sure doesn't seem like the help we sent to you in Washington is of much help to you, or to any of us.
I have always been thankful that I was born here, in one of the freest-thinking nations ever founded. I have grown up without famine or disease, with access to great opportunities. But, somewhere along the way, we've lost sight of that free thinking that started our nation, and that - well, that is where most of my sorrow lies. It was a great day indeed when you were elected, Mr. President. Your messages of hope and perseverance lit up the entire country like nothing I've experienced in my lifetime. I felt proud that day, and humbled, and happy. I would like to continue to be proud to be an American, and your hope and optimism help me to be that person. The men and women meant to be representing my interests, though - well, they make me ashamed. I am sorry, Mr. President. I know you are trying your best. I sincerely wish that Congress would choose 2010 to try their best, as well, to reconcile themselves to each other, to your administration, and to the hopes and wants of the people they serve - the citizens of the United States of America.
Sincerely,
Erin Andress
Orlando, FL
First of all, I'd like to apologize to you. You might wonder what a normal, within-the-law sort of gal such as myself might have to be sorry for - sorry enough,in fact, to pen this letter. My sorrow and remorse has nothing actually to do with my own personal actions ... welll, except for the actions I have taken in the voting booth over the last few years.
Granted, most of the candidates I choose never get elected. I am a registered Democrat (only so that I can vote in the primaries - I consider myself to be more of an Independent), and I typically research all of the candidates who up for election to the House and the Senate from my area of Florida, and then I vote for the ones who seem to be the least stupid of the lot. This is a practice I adopted after I finally figured out that the only real differences between the two parties here in the US are positions on abortion, gun control, government-sponsored medical care and taxes. Everything else is just window dressing. I try to vote for those who seem they will actually evaluate a bill and really think about its pros and cons and its impact on their constituency before voting. After the ridiculous antics I have seen played out in Congress over the past year, however; I realize that it really doesn't matter at ALL who ANY of us citizens vote for! As soon as they are elected and sworn into office, these US Representatives and US Senators behave like bratty children, stopping their ears to any sort of compromise and deliberately obfuscating every point put to debate. At times I have been hard-pressed to believe that Congress is being powered by anything other than itinerant five-year-olds.
My apology to you, sir, is that we elected these supposedly smart and educated men and women to do a job they are apparently incapable of. I am sorry that the majority of them seem unable to listen to what the American people want and need. I am sorry that none of them are adult enough to act in a real spirit of compromise, because from where I stand, that is the ONLY way that the issues on the table right now - specifically, revising our broken and limping health care system - are going to be resolved. Denying that there is a problem or spreading scurrilous rumors to trick your constituency into thinking that the issues are something other than they are is cowardly and disingenuous. Why are politicians so afraid of change? Have any of THEM ever spent time with no medical insurance? Have they been faced with the outrageous cost of COBRA coverage after leaving a job? Been bankrupted from an inability to even come close to paying overdue medical expenses? Had to forgo care for themselves or their children simply because there wasn't affordable care available to them? And the American people don't want or need a change???
Again, I'm sorry, Mr. President. We have sent you a whole contingent of people to help you to shape the changes of which this country is sorely in need. Instead, you have a crowd of men and women who can't agree on any details that might lead to something the rest of the country would look upon as progress. Instead, they bicker about dollars and cents and abortion rights and socialism and welfare abuse, and the citizens of this country are left to wait and wonder why we ever voted for any of these people, and if anything will ever change up there on Capitol Hill. Instead, you have politicians more concerned with holding up a bill's progress than creating something that satisfies some of the needs of each side and MOST of the needs of this country's poor and destitute. From here, it sure doesn't seem like the help we sent to you in Washington is of much help to you, or to any of us.
I have always been thankful that I was born here, in one of the freest-thinking nations ever founded. I have grown up without famine or disease, with access to great opportunities. But, somewhere along the way, we've lost sight of that free thinking that started our nation, and that - well, that is where most of my sorrow lies. It was a great day indeed when you were elected, Mr. President. Your messages of hope and perseverance lit up the entire country like nothing I've experienced in my lifetime. I felt proud that day, and humbled, and happy. I would like to continue to be proud to be an American, and your hope and optimism help me to be that person. The men and women meant to be representing my interests, though - well, they make me ashamed. I am sorry, Mr. President. I know you are trying your best. I sincerely wish that Congress would choose 2010 to try their best, as well, to reconcile themselves to each other, to your administration, and to the hopes and wants of the people they serve - the citizens of the United States of America.
Sincerely,
Erin Andress
Orlando, FL
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