The more I thought about it the madder I got

H.R. 4694, the so-called "Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act", is pitiful. Have we, the voters, really been dumbed down so far that as transparent, as naked a power grab as this will slide past us into law?

You've seen what DownSizeDC.org had to say in my earlier post. Well, here's what I had to say to Representative Tom Petri and Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold:

This is what will be said of you if this bill passes: My Congressman is so enamored of his position, so wedded to power, so contemptuous of the voters that he voted himself a permanent job. He has created a union just for Congressmen.

I don't know whether you support this bill or not, but don't mistake me: if you do, then there is absolutely nothing you can ever say about your public service, your stand on any issue, or your belief in the American system of government that any of us will ever accept. Your most sincere sentiments, your high-sounding phrases, and your promises will be nothing but ashes because you will have proven that the thing you care about most is your own job.

Nothing you do after supporting this bill will matter. We, the voters, may as well don our straitjackets and learn to smile whenever you wave at us during the Independence Day parade. Oh, I'm sure that you'll do your best to make us comfortable. You wouldn't want to be seen as uncaring, would you?

Could you, please, for the Constitution's sake, just once make a law that makes it easier for someone to challenge you for your job? I know that it must be annoying to have to re-apply every two years for the same position; but do you have any idea how monstrous it is to have the power to throw more and more roadblocks in the way of those who think you should be replaced?

Of course, an Amendment to limit your term in office is out of the question: it would never get enough votes to get out of Congress to the States. A companion to the 22nd Amendment, the 28th Amendment, limiting the terms of Representatives and Senators is what will be badly needed, but will be impossible to enact once you have solidified your grasp on your position by "taking the money out of politics", a grotesque and self-serving distortion if ever there was one.

And to think it's a Wisconsin Congressman that introduced this travesty of a bill. "Progressive" Wisconsin has produced Feingold and Obey, the two that have done the most to make your jobs permanent.

I am not sorry that the tone of this letter is angry. I despised the provisions of McCain-Feingold...but what could I do? I despise the provisions of Obey...and what can I do? I can make you absolutely certain of my distaste for it and for the equivocations and the disingenuous justifications for its adoption.

Most sincerely,

Steve Erbach