Talking back to my Representative.  The following is an e-mail I sent to Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th District, NJ) in response to his "e-news" sent to his constituents.  For those of you who are not in New Jersey, or not in the 11th District, you might find yourself in agreement with some of the things I say to him.
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Dear Congressman Frelinghuysen:

I have read your recent e-News and feel I must tell you, as a Republican and as a constituent, where I think you're wrong.

In the matter of tax hikes:  President G.W. Bush managed to take a surplus left to him by President Clinton and, through what I can only think of as gross incompetence, turn it into a massive deficit that will need to be paid off by our children and grandchildren.  An incompetently-run war in Afghanistan, a completely unnecessary war in Iraq, tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans, the Medicaid prescription program, and the massive financial collapse of this country's largest institutions because of the relaxing of  fiscal regulations -- all contributed to the state in which we find ourselves today.  For you to say the Obama Administration is "addicted to spending", when there was not so much as a murmur from you about the disastrous spending policies of the Bush Administration, is frankly ludicrous.

We have a debt to pay.  In the real world -- not the insulated dream world of Congress -- if you have a debt to pay, you have two options:  make more money, or spend less.  The United States has been acting as though this basic rule does not apply to itself.

I am no fan of higher taxes.  However, since Congress, and especially Congressional Republicans in their "Pledge to America", fail to give specifics on where spending will be cut, the only other option is making more money.  You and I both know that will include raising taxes.

The American people may grumble.  But they won't retaliate if you and your fellow Representatives and Senators of both parties take the time to educate them on both the "why" and the "what" of what your actions.  Without that education, then yes, if you start belt-tightening then you'll lose your job -- and you'll deserve it.

Every President, every Congress, has faced hard decisions and made some unpopular ones.  Those who made the effort to convince the citizenry of the rightness of their cause -- and did so without recourse solely to fantasies of what might happen if the "other side" got its way -- found their efforts rewarded come election time.  (Consider FDR and his Fireside Chats, especially the ones explaining bank holidays and Lend-Lease.)

Regarding so-called "ObamaCare":  I have been unemployed for over two years now.  I do not have a chance in hell of getting private health insurance.  With ObamaCare, there is the opportunity to end my worries of having something catastrophically expensive happen to me.  The day you vote to repeal "ObamaCare" is the day I start working for your Democratic opponent.

Finally, comparing pensions for union members, negotiated with auto makers over the years at contract time, with general benefits of salaried non-union employees (or as they're otherwise known, "management") is the most colossal red herring I have seen in ages.  Non-union employees' benefits are not guaranteed by contract (except at the very highest levels) and are subject to the whim of top executives and the board of directors.  From where I stand, in order to make up for this "inequality", salaried non-union employees should be encouraged to, and allowed to, unionize to give them the right to bargain collectively for contractually-guaranteed benefits.

I leave you with this final request:  If you or one of your aides is going to send me the standard "thank you for writing" letters, save the paper (or the e-mail).  If, however, you want to discuss what I've written, then by all means contact me.

Yours, 

Allen Neuner