Writing Your Congressman

The health care reform debate is reaching a climax in the next few weeks and if you are like me it can't come soon enough. While the din is hard to ignore with our "all news all the time" society it can get hard to listen to day in and day out. Every trial balloon that is sent up by this group of knuckleheads is extrapolated into future consequences by the talking heads we love to hate.

Don't get me wrong. This is an important decision and will have far-reaching effects on each of our lives. Just get it done without the drama!!! Will there be a public option or not? Will the reforms be bipartisan or a Democrat stuff job? Will Lord Obama lead us to the health care promised land without giving the keys to the country to the Chinese and Arabs? The answers are yes, no, and of course not. The suspense is not killing me.

With this attitude you can imagine my response to solicitations for my opinion in the form of questionnaires, online e-mail campaigns, and the like. My past affiliation with the Republican Party has earned me no less than 5 surveys each week for my opinion on the issues of the day. Of course, they want my money but they REALLY are interested in my opinion. RIGHT! These people are no more interested in what I think than I am in Michael Moore's opinion about capitalism. They talk a good game about what they think I want to hear but it's all a ploy for more money to get them re-elected.

Now I received a solicitation from my corporate office to become a part of an email writing campaign to members of congress. Of course it is being orchestrated by a trade organization that lobbies hard with congress on matters concerning the health care industry. Their interest is in protecting the viability of the companies that support them. They couch it in terms like "protecting the residents" and "giving them the benefits they are entitled to". I'm not saying that these industry professionals do not care about the residents but they report to boards that want to see a return on their investments.

So do these email campaigns work? Sure if there is a check attached. Every time I write one of these chuckleheads I get some form email back thanking me for my opinion and that Congressman Blow will take it under advisement. Unfortunately I don't send a check because I paid at the office and continue to pay every April 15th! So my congressman, Lloyd Doggett, will ignore the opinions of anyone to the right of Karl Marx and do what he wants to do, which is suck up to the liberal agenda of our president.

So we can write them until our fingers fall off and the only thing that we get their attention is money. Considering the societal insanity that we appear to be living in I have my doubts about money working this time. The only thing that will get their attention is booting a bunch of them out of office. The process starts soon. Let's see where the will of our country will take us.