A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
Dear Congressman,
If there is a shred of truth to the saying that the past is prologue to the future, I’d wager that you have an interesting journey ahead. As you begin in earnest the historic task you’ve been charged with by the American people, please take a few moments to consider the events of the last week which were as instructive as they were horrific. You’ve come face to face with the cruel and blunt reality that one deranged person can walk up and fire a bullet into one of your own in an instant and then remorselessly gun down anyone in range. You’ve seen ordinary Americans step up and heroically subdue the gunman and restore order. And you’ve seen the political class take the mindless carnage of a mass murder and twist it, contort it into a weapon, and use it to bludgeon and intimidate political opponents. What to make of all this? How does it apply to you and your mission?
In the aftermath of this heart-wrenching story, the response from certain political and media quarters has been instructive. At Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in June of 2005, Barack Obama said, “…our individual salvation depends on collective salvation.” Apart from its theological incoherence, that change in focus from individual to collective accountability has informed the progressive’s response to evil for decades and continues today. Rather than hold responsible a monster who murders his parents, we must understand his rage, investigate the root causes, and see where we as a society have failed. When terrorists slaughtered 3,000 people on 9/11, the left asked, “Why do they hate us?” the assumption being that it must be our fault. When Ronald Reagan accurately described the Soviet Union as an “Evil Empire,” he was sneeringly castigated in the same editorial pages that today cannot bring themselves to advocate the death penalty for Tucson’s mass murderer, but which do not hesitate for so much as a second to assign collective guilt to the rest of us for the carnage.
The problem with their approach is that it ignores one salient fact: It was ordinary Americans who came to the rescue in Tucson. It was an elderly veteran, assisted by other citizens, who overpowered and subdued the assailant. They didn’t cower and wait for government assistance. And because they acted quickly and decisively, lives were saved, even as they were when passengers onboard Flight 93 acted selflessly and heroically to prevent a further attack on Washington DC. From fighting our wars to literally saving our government and its officials, it is the ordinary citizen who continually pulls the government’s bacon out of the fire. For his trouble and sacrifice, he is derided as a “tea bagger.” His intellect is impugned, his motives debased, and his arguments dismissed. He is labeled racist, xenophobic, homophobic, nativist, selfish, and placed on Janet Napolitano’s naughty list.
For protesting the vast, unconstitutional reach of government in recent years and actually voting into office those of like mind, the ordinary citizen is told that he has created a climate of hostility that unleashes the Jared Loughners to roam about on murderous rampages. “But, yes, this is the time,” writes E. J. Dionne Jr., “to acknowledge that there is something deeply wrong with the militarization of American conservative rhetoric.” To the contrary, Mr. Dionne, this is the time to stand firm on constitutional principles.
This is not the time, as Margaret Thatcher admonished George H.W. Bush years ago, “…to go wobbly.” As the new kid in town, Mr. Congressman, you will be told that your effort to repeal the new healthcare law is divisive. You will be admonished to tamp down your zeal, to go along so as to unite, rather than stir up the masses into an anti-government fervor. You will be accused of enabling another Tucson. You might want to remind the old guard that the people who sent you to Washington aren’t anti-government. They are pro-Constitution. As long as you adhere to constitutional principles, you needn’t worry about threats from the beltway crowd in DC. You work for the American people, not the editorial boards of declining publications. If you disregard those principles, we the people retain the right to seek representation elsewhere.
Affectionately,
Dave Carter
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
I'm old enough to remember the late 1960s, early 1970s. So, when sixty-year-old former-Vietnam-War-protesting (sometimes rioting) lefty activists tell Aunt Katie & Uncle Bob, and all their Tea Party friends, that they (the Tea Party) are too divisive and too dangerous, it's pretty funny. How many government offices has the Tea Party blown up so far?
Oct '10
Re: A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
From one that remembers seperate bathrooms, drinking fountains and seats at the Woolworths lunch counters back East.... Things have come a long way...
Turmoil, strife and deaths on local soils, as well as on the political fields are hopefully left behind in this day.
Politics appear to taken on a seemingly bloodless conflict of words today one might think. Save the irreverence and lack of respect done to the folks that bothered to vote.
In short, it is "Bootstrap Time" for the newly elected to show some pride, spine and serve the people of the Republic with dignity and repose.
Choose not to comment on the events in Arizona. That would be pointless...
It is simply way beyond the time to rise above the the disgusting thing politics have become....Prove yourselves elected ones.. And beware the pitfalls...
Nov '10
Re: A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
Excellent letter, Dave.
Nov '10
Re: A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
Good to go Dave
Re: A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
And don't forget Joe Zamudio, a regular citizen armed with a legally carried concealed weapon, who ran toward the mayhem and was prepared to shoot the killer to end the murder.
Sep '10
Re: A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
Thanks Dave, I hope they read this it is certainly worth their time.
May '10
Re: A Letter to Freshmen Congressmen
A freshman Congressman is like a cucumber dropped into the pickling brine. The environment and culture of the place, and contact with the more established Washington denizens, will change a person. Anyone taking that job is challenged to remember who he or she is and what the world looks like to a normal citizen.
Our problem is not that we elect corrupt people (with a few exceptions). The trouble is that we send smart and eager people into an intensely corrupting atmosphere up against a largely "rigged" system .
The first job of a freshman looking to make a real change should be to attack the Capitol Hill rules and culture that make real reform so difficult.