Steven Harrell

Look in the Mirror

Aug 12, 2011 Updates

Congress barely beat a deadline of August 2, 2011, but did pass a measure that raises the debt ceiling, and prevents the U.S. Treasury from defaulting on its debt obligations.  However, the political bickering and acrimony generated during this process has caused Standard & Poor’s to downgrade U.S. debt obligations to AA from its former AAA rating.  This has caused turmoil in the financial markets, as the stock markets have up and down like a bad roller coaster at an amusement park.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average has taken at least a 1500 point hit since the debt ceiling was raised.  Our financial future has been held hostage by a dysfunctional U.S. Congress, and people around the U.S. are looking for someone to blame for this mess.  I can offer up several groups to blame, with the first group being the Congress itself.  This bunch of political hacks and self important potentates are too busy campaigning and jockeying for political position, that they have completely forgotten how to effectively govern the country.  You can also blame the political parties that do nothing but divide the country into factions, and offer up absolutely nothing to the country in the way of ideas for effective government.

But perhaps the greatest blame should go to the CEOs and presidents of all of the Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  They have for over the past twenty years formed Political Action Committees (PACS) that have pumped millions upon millions of dollars in Congressional races for years.  The Congress that we have today they have pretty much bought and paid for with their PAC money.  When all of these business types complain about the way Congress has brought us into a financial crisis, our response should be sent back to them in the form of a letter that should read like this:

Dear President or CEO:

Your company, as well as many others, has formed Political Action Committees for the express purpose of influencing Congressional elections for over the past twenty years.  Now, on account of the recent dithering and political bickering in that body, their lack of leadership has plunged this county and maybe the world into a financial crisis.

We the American public hold you substantially responsible for this mess.  If you want to see the cause of the current financial mess, just go look into the mirror.  You wanted the Congress to enact free trade agreements.  You wanted to bust the labor unions and to save your company money by shipping U.S. jobs overseas.  You got your wish, and our manufacturing sectors of the U.S. economy are wrecked.  The Congress that we now have to work with is the same Congress that you have essentially bought and paid for with your PAC monies.  You spent the millions of dollars required to influence Congressional elections around the country, and the Congress that we have to deal with now is the one you bought and paid for.  Maybe you should enjoy the fruits of your labors.  However, we have a better plan for you.

Why don’t you stick to your business, and keep business out of politics permanently?  If your company’s meddling in U.S. Congressional politics gives us this type of dysfunctional Congress to govern us, maybe you and those like you should get out of politics for good.  Close down each and every one of your PACS, and stay out of national and local politics for good.  If you do not proceed to depoliticize your company, we will boycott the products that you make and sell here in the U.S.

The time has come to get the big money out of Congressional races completely, if the American public must start cleaning up the system from the ground up.  The legal system will give the public no relief from this problem.  We must now take things in hand and clean up our political system.

Sincerely,

Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public