An Open Letter to Congress

To All Members of Congress,

I, and many other Americans, are fed up with the blatant inequality in Congress, the corruption employed in the running of Congress, and the corruption involved in the making of our laws.  To quote the singer, Makana, it is time you “do the bidding of the many, not the few.”  The following are my specific complaints, and suggestions for improvements.

 1.    You do not resemble the racial or gender make-up of this country.  Congress is 80 percent white, 80 percent male, and 92 percent Christian.  I realize that, we, the voters have some responsibility in this, but more responsibility lies with the two major parties.  The Democrat and Republican parties need to push for candidates that more closely resemble We The People, instead of choosing to support predominately white male candidates. 

*https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/01/05/the-new-congress-is-80-percent-white-80-percent-male-and-92-percent-christian/

In addition, while you like to talk about how you understand the plight of the middle class and the poor, you are not of us, and it is clear you cannot relate to us.  Your median net worth is $1.03 MILLION while the average American household is just $53,355.  It is no wonder you do not relate to us.  You continue vote yourself raises and cost of living increases when people are struggling and you condemn many to the plight of living on starvation wages.  You cut needed nutrition benefits to the most vulnerable among us, children and seniors to thwart the few who may be taking advantage of the system.  Indeed, punishing the many for the transgressions of the few.  You would not discipline your own children thusly.  You publicly talk about the need to support our veterans, but your actions do not support your words, and you are the only ones with the power to change this.

*  http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/01/12/making-it-rain-members-of-congress-are-mostly-millionaires/

2.   You accept large money donations from large corporations and wealthy individuals which you use to publish ads to convince us to vote for you.  Then you turn your backs on will of the people and vote the interests of your financial backers instead.

After collecting 20 years of data, professors from Princeton and Northwestern Universities, Gilens and Page respectively, used that data to answer the simple question, “Does the government represent the people?”  Below is the result.  They found that the opinion of the people literally does not matter unless you are an “economic elite” when laws are being considered or passed.

“While the opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America have a "statistically non-significant impact," (meaning they really don't matter).  Gilens and Page found that economic elites, business interests, and people who can afford lobbyists carry major influence.”  The following graph depicts the likelihood that Congress will represent the will of the people when passing laws versus the reality.

* http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think

Because purchasing political influence in this country is actually legal, albeit legalized corruption, you get away with it.  Legal does not equal ethical, and you know this but do not seem to care.  This is wrong.  

3.   In many cases, you actually allow lobbyists and industry to write the bills you submit for proposed new laws.  It comes as no surprise that lobbyists and industry write the laws to their own advantage instead of for the advantage of America as a whole.  This is an abdication of your responsibility to the American people and can no longer be tolerated. 

For instance, the largest banks in the world, which we, the taxpayers, bailed out with our hard-earned money, should not be writing a bill which gives it access to public deposit insurance (which we also fund) to bail out their questionable financial activities.  It is astounding that the same people who created the financial mess which ruined people’s lives, robbing them of their homes and jobs, were not imprisoned but go on their merry way, robbing the American people and continuing to reward themselves for their success in getting away with it.

*http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/11/11/243973620/when-lobbyists-literally-write-the-bill

      4.   You attach riders to bills that will or must pass in order to push things through Congress which you or your donors want, but which would fail (or not even come up for a vote) if the issue had to stand on its own merits.  This allows you to circumvent the will of the people time and time again to the tune of millions and billions of dollars.  It all adds up.

PROPOSED CHANGES:

For the above, among other reasons, I am humbly proposing the following changes:

      1.   Work with your your respective parties to better regulate yourselves and choose candidates to run for office who more closely resemble the general electorate.  Please do not tell us that you cannot find suitable candidates.  We know this is untrue.  There are definitely persons of great knowledge and skill in the general public whom you may put forward as candidates if you only look for them and ask them to run.  Please make sure that they also resemble Americans more as a whole and NOT the millionaire class.  We will know if you are trying or not.

      2.   I propose a Constitutional Amendment which bans any person or entity from contributing over $3000 per year to any person running for Congress or to any entity supporting that person, publicly or privately.  No exceptions.  All financing must come from We The People in small donations or via the matching funds provided by the government.  

In addition, pass a bill which requires public media outlets, including those billed as entertainment but which discuss political issues, to give equal time and equal quality of time (days / hours of airing) to all candidates or be ordered to refrain from any coverage of a political nature.  Policy questions asked of one candidate must be the exact same questions asked of all other candidates (no soft-balling or hard-balling to cast some candidates in a good light while others in a bad light).  It is a clear and well known fact that media coverage unduly influences the voters and that media coverage is skewed and unfair.  In its present state, control of the media gives the owners of media outlets a direct and unfair advantage in influencing voters to choose candidates which benefit them financially. This needs to be regulated to remove unfair practices.

      3.   I propose a bill to be passed immediately, which requires members of Congress to abstain from voting on any bill which relates to any person, or entity, who donated more than $10K to their election in any way, form or fashion.  It should also require them to abstain if any family member benefits financially from any person or entity impacted by the bill.

Our judges must recuse themselves from presiding over cases in which they have a financial or personal interest.  Congress should be held to the same standard.  I feel that Congress would do a much better job of representing We The People if they were prohibited from the improper influence of any outside person or entity.

      4.   I propose a Constitutional Amendment which:  (a) requires all bills to be single, one topic bills, and (b) disallows any riders to any bill which are not directly related to the bill or to its implementation.  No exceptions.  I do not believe it was the plan or vision the founding fathers that bills encompass so many disparate items, and it is evident to all that they do so only for the purpose of passing unpopular items.  This will be a hard pill for Congress to swallow, I understand, but if you truly want what is best for the country, you will support this amendment.  I am fairly certain that the States will ratify it.

These are my proposals and I feel they will benefit the American people as a whole.  I respectfully request that Congress examine them and act upon them with haste.

Sincerely,

Connie Ehlmann