My latest letter to my members of Congress (changed slightly between my Rep and Senators). Enjoy! I am writing you today to share my position on what a fiasco this budget “negotiation” has begun. I actively vote in EVERY election and live in your district. Every time I see the talking heads in front of the camera pointing fingers at each other, it only serves to reiterate to me the dysfunction our republic has become. Just to be clear, I see what the D’s are doing and I see what the R’s are doing, and both sides are just making me sick. Today I write you to instruct you, as my representative, to negotiate with the other side to find a solution to the government shut down before you damage our nation any further. I encourage you to keep an open mind and do what Congress did prior to 1996, and that is execute a little give-and-take that many of us call “negotiations”. I know the GOP is “thrilled” to see the government shut down (per Michelle Bachman), and I know it’s clear to politicians in DC that they think they can “win” (per Rand Paul) this little game they’ve created. But I have a different view. You see, I am a government employee. I am an Air Traffic Controller at the busiest airport in the world, Atlanta Hartsfield. While my family is in a place where we can absorb some time without pay, I work with many that cannot. We are in safety-critical positions and ordered to show up and work whether we get paid or not. Several of my coworkers are already concerned about how they’re going to make their mortgage payment the end of the month, not to mention credit card payments that are due prior to that, and wondering how exactly they’re going to send money to their kids trying to get a college education without incurring massive amounts of debt. The longer this wears on, the more to the front of their mind this will come as they work airplanes. I can say I work with professionals that do a fantastic, unimaginable job day in and day out. However, in the end, we’re all human. I think you would agree with me that a distracted Air Traffic Controller probably isn’t the best thing you could want while you’re sitting in a thin aluminum tube flying through the air at 500+ miles per hour while the controller on the other end is thinking about what he’s going to do because he needs to pay his credit card just like you do (well, except that you’re being comfortably paid while the rest of the government is not, whether working or not). I imagine this concept would apply to employees of the TSA, FBI , or others with “safety critical” duties. While I thank you for supporting the bill that will pay government employees retroactively as soon as a budget is passed, I am very concerned Washington has forgotten what it’s like to be a “citizen”. I’m sure there will be a few that will remember in the ballot box next fall. Please put away your witty little sound bites. Put away this desire to “win” this little game you ALL have created. Put aside your responsibility to your party. Start to think about your responsibility to the people you represent. Quit trying to further enrage the other side of the aisle and be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Jeffrey Wonser Peachtree City, GA PS. I’m curious what you would think about a Constitutional amendment that sounded something like, “Congress shall pass no law that does not apply equally to members of the Congress or the President as it does to citizens of the United States” and whether you would support this. Isn’t it sad that something like this would need to be proposed?
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 20:52:14 +0000
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