Dear Senator Durbin: Do You Get It?

My Flag Cries Everyday

Dear Senator Durbin;
Thank you for responding to my letter regarding your inability to hold town hall meetings with the people of Illinois. I appreciate that you are a busy man and prefer to receive input from the select few who will support your own views.
It takes courage to stand before a group of angry voters who are disappointed in their representative’s performance. I see by your actions that your character is not what I had always thought it to  be. I thought you were a strong leader who was concerned for all the people of Illinois. I see by your actions that I was wrong to assume that.
I am an American who believes that his country is sacred because it was founded on the principles of personal liberty. I see big government taking those liberties away from us faster than it takes a toilet to flush. I believe you and President Obama do not get it. It, being the fact that I am not alone. How can you possibly legislate when you do not know the mood of your constituents? By not hearing us out face to face at town hall meetings you cannot possibly know how we feel. Sure an angry constituency can become unruly, but only if their Senator gives them a standard line created by the bureaucracy in Washington. Tell the town hall people you understand their needs. Tell them that you will go back to Washington to stop wreckless spending, become fiscally responsible, and not vote for bills that are so long and impossible to understand, that a bevy of lawyers would have trouble doing so.
Here are some of the points I wanted to talk to you about:
1. Health Care Reform is needed, but not what is spelled out in HR3200. I do not want you to support HR3200.
   Come back with something that will not take money from Medicare to fund it. The President so eloquently told us that he will only eliminate waste from Medicare; some five hundred billion dollars worth. Yet, when he asked the entire government to eliminate waste from their budgets they could only come up with one hundred million dollars. Do you really expect me to believe that you and President Obama are capable of finding, and eliminating that much waste? That kind of reasoning is exactly why town hall meetings get noisy.
Take out the part about setting up every school with Planned Parenthood centers.
Add wordage that is specific to not funding abortions. Specify the word abortion, and not sneak it in under the radar as a medical procedure.
Add words that ban government operated public option health care system.
 In other words, HR 3200 is not worth the paper it is written on. Do not vote for HR 3200.
2. Legislate tort reform now, don’t wait for a reform bill.
3. Eliminate the barriers to private sector competition by allowing insurance companies to cross state lines with their plans.
4. Pass legislation that requires the president to obtain congressional vetting and approval on his “czars.”

Need I go on some more, or do you get it? If you can address these issues in a rational logical way, and not in a party controlled response, I will regain my faith in your ability to serve as my Senator.

Respectfully yours,
Grumpa Joe