I really like my congressman. Henry Waxman has been putting the screws to the executive branch for their “missing” e-mails, and I believe fighting the good fight for government accountability. Recently, you may have heard that whatever banks that haven’t already failed are going to need some easy money to stay solvent. Money from us taxpayers. And since I didn’t feel like writing a $700 billion check for some bankers who a) have more money than I will ever see, and b) did this to themselves, I wrote my congressman to voice my opinion against this bill.
The next day I was overjoyed that the HR 3997 bailout had failed! For the first time in the last eight wretched years, I felt like the will of the people was actually being enforced, and Rep. Waxman (my representative!) was continuing to look out for the little guy.
Now the bill is back in a more tempting, even more financially irresponsible form, making it a bill that both spends an inconceivable amount of money AND cuts taxes. It’s both asking for more money up front and less means to pay it back. Brilliant. Appalled at how much worse the bill had gotten, I revisited Rep. Waxman’s site, which was down for some reason to do with gov’t black helicopters setting controlled demolitions, to voice my complaints. Eventually I was able to get another email to him, praising him for his vote against the bailout and encouraging him to stand his ground.
But before I sent it, I wanted to fact-check my praise, and guess what I found? Despite Representative Waxman’s severe misgivings, he still fucking voted for it. On his website he gives a lame, have-it-both-ways excuse [PDF] that boils down to “it’s better than nothing.” Congressman, this is so much worse than nothing. It’s a bill so bad the Republicans don’t even like it.
I can only roll my eyes if the best my congressman can do is give in to what he himself describes as “a Hobson’s choice.” Don’t feel like you have to vote for a bad bill just for the sake of doing something, wait for the right bill to come along before voting in favor of it. If banks are in such dire straits, they will eventually yield to reason; if they aren’t, then maybe they aren’t in such a crisis after all?
In his statement, he cautions against letting our anger at “the excesses on Wall Street” get the better of our judgement. But it’s not Wall Street I’m angry at, it’s my congressman OK’ing a plan to spend an obscene amount of my money to support them.
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