I just made my first phone call ever to one of my Representatives. I am vehemently against the controversial Bail Out plan to be voted on (again) tomorrow. Contacting Chris Cannon was easy with the help of Campaign for Liberty, but Cannon’s office’s response was far different from that I expected.
I told them I was disappointed that Cannon had voted in favor of the bill last run through and that I wanted to express my opposition.
“It is like handing Paulson a $700b BLANK check” I explained. “Then saying, ‘I have no idea what is really going on, but it is scary. Here is our freedom and our money… You look like a smart fellow. Please save us.’”
“It is actually just $250b to start.” The man responded, “and their will be congressional oversight over much of the money.”
I was a little taken back at his tone of voice. “$250b or $700b, the powers granted to the Executive Branch are the same and they will never be revoked… Every economist I have read in the past 2 weeks says it will be FAR over $700b by the time it is done… on top of that, when has Congress been good at oversight of any money?”
“What would you do instead?” The gentleman asked.
“I would let the prices of houses fall until they find their actually market value. I would let those who did bad business take the fall they deserve. Yes it will hurt, but it must happen. We can’t just prop up unnatural prices and expect them to stay there. You are only increasing the size of a future crash. To be honest, if I had to choose between the two, I would rather struggle through another depression than hand over my freedoms and live in this form of Socialism. Although I don’t think we will need to live through a depression just yet.” I stated.
He started to respond, “…I disagree with you about calling it Socialism…”
“What is Socialism then? Define it for me.” I interrupted. (note: it is absolutely Marxist)
He dodged my question and said, “you have to understand the markets are frozen right now and we have to do something.”
I told him Cannon would be gone if he votes for this. His response was repulsive. He said “Cannon is not up for reelection this term so he is not influenced by the vote in November.”
Our conversation ended shortly afterward. I am appalled that Congressman Chris Cannon would vote for the bail out knowing the whole time that his constituents are against it. The most recent poll I could find show that only 30% of Americans even think the Government should bail out the banks while 63% are against it. Utah is a conservative state and I am sure the numbers are even higher. How can Cannon have the arrogance to ignore not only the constitution but the people as well?!
One of my good friends from high school asked me today when I started liking politics so much. My response, “I don’t like politics at all, but I love freedom and the constitution. I think the two are separate.”
I will end this with a quote from the opening statement of The Law (one of my favorite books on government because it is so short) by Frederic Bastiat:
The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!
If this is true, it is a serious fact, and moral duty requires me to call the attention of my fellow-citizens to it.
Oh, and just so you know, Congressman Robert Bishop and Congressman Jim Matheson both voted no and plan to vote no again.
I hope I inspired some of you to contact your Congressman as well. C’mon it is easy, only takes 5 minutes.
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