An open letter to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid

I actually tried to send this to both of them via their Congressional websites, but since I'm not a constituent, the message forms on those websites won't forward my message.

That means they won't get to bask in the glow of my writing.

Their loss. :))

Anyway, here goes....


Dear Congresswoman Pelosi and Senator Reid,

If current trends continue, it looks more and more likely that on November 8th one of you, perhaps both of you, will wake up as the de facto leader of the majority party in your respective chamber of Congress.

After you finish pinching yourself to make sure it all isn’t a dream, stop for another moment to take it all in, especially the lessons to be learned from the many mistakes of the Republicans.

Those mistakes are too numerous to cover here, but a couple of them stand out and are worthy of mention:

1. Congress should reclaim its Constitutional task of providing oversight of the Executive branch. That could mean questioning budget and appropriations requests; it could mean adopting a skeptical stance when the Administration seeks to send our servicemen and women into harm’s way; it could mean many other things.

It does NOT mean automatically disapproving every proposal or action of the administration, but it does mean carefully examining those proposals and actions.

Nor does it mean automatically starting impeachment proceedings and massive investigations out of spite; however, if it turns out that those proceedings are appropriate, they should be open, above-board, and scrupulously fair. The country will accept nothing less.

The bottom line is that the legislative branch is a co-equal partner with the executive and judicial branches of our government, not the executive branch’s lapdog, one that is occasionally let off the leash solely to take a chunk out of the courts.

2. At some point you are going to be faced with the prospect of dealing with a Democrat with some serious ethical problems. As a Democrat myself, I would love to believe differently, and I do think that we as a group are more ethical than the Republicans. However, as individuals, we are just as subject to human frailties as anybody else.

When the time comes, you will be faced with a dilemma – protect what is sure to be a slim majority, or address the problem publicly and effectively.

Here’s my advice: when you come across a member who has stepped out over the ethical or legal line, grasp him firmly by the collar, drag him to the nearest bus heading out of town, and THROW HIM UNDER IT.

Metaphorically speaking, of course. :)

One of the biggest mistakes committed by the Republicans in control of Congress (and elsewhere, it seems) is that they have forgotten why they were elected in the first place – to govern responsibly.

They have become so focused on exercising the perks of power and on retaining that power (and those perks, too!) that they have alienated a significant part of America.

Learn from their mistakes, or risk turning the Democrats’ tenure as the majority party in Congress into a short one.

Thank you and good luck on November 7th.

Sincerely,

CPMAZ