People Like Me

I received a phone call the other day from a political organization that I have given money to in the past. I have neglected to continue that practice for that last year or two. Anyhow, they gave me their speech and wanted me to donate yet again. Never mind the fact that they would save the amount I am not giving them if they stopped sending me mailers and calling me, I let the man on the other end of the phone know that I would not be donating and gave him a brief synopsis why. I would explain, but it would go in a different direction than the point of this post.

He continued to try and convince me. He attempted to show me that my logic was faulty. After I continued to explain myself in more detail, the discussion got a bit more animated. First of all, donating money to politics tends to have much more behind the personal motivation than logic. In a representative government, self-interest will always play at least some part. Therefore, yelling at me is not likely to convince me to donate money nor is attempting to paint me as ignorant. The part of our conversation worth posting about, however, is when the man on the phone let me know that the situation we find ourselves in with our Congress and with what isn't getting done is not the fault of those in Congress (particularly those no longer in the majority according to his explanation). It is my fault, or more precisely, it is because of people like me. That is right friends. The Republicans are no longer in the majority not because their constituents for various reasons voted them out of majority but because of people like me. Issues that are important to me are not being acted on, have not been acted on in over a decade and won't be acted upon not because of the inability of our elected officials to act or to represent but because of people like me.

Next time you feel all heated up and think to write your Congressman/woman or Senator. Stop and address that letter to me. After all, it isn't their fault. It is the fault of people like me. I am sure this is as much news to you as it was to me, so I thought I better make sure you all know where the fault truly lies.

Good grief!