I remember when AIG was bailed out with government money and their executives got huge bonuses, one of the executives actually had the guts to defend himself against all the complaints. I can't remember his argument, but it surprised me. Call him ethical or unethical, but at least he had some guts.
I think a Congressman should write a letter like this:
"Dear American public:
As a Congressman of the United States, I know I am looked down upon by the majority of you. Perhaps it makes sense. We do make legislation that is often questionable, and we know you look at that legislation and think you can do a better job than us.
But let me tell you something. This job is harder than it looks. We have to make a lot of decisions and try to lead a lot of people into accepting those decisions.
We keep hearing you complain about us giving away your tax money as welfare. Well heck, you can just give the bums that don't work money directly if you want to. I doubt you will. And when you don't, they're going to rob your house. We're just trying to appease them to make sure that doesn't happen. Same with all the foreign aid we give out. You want those folks mad at you? I bet not. You all talk tough, but you'd do the same thing we're doing if you were in our shoes. You wouldn't just let a lady with nine illegitimate children die on the street with all her kids, no matter how lazy and crooked she was.
And then you complain about our salaries and health care. Trust me, we could make our salaries much higher if we wanted, but we don't out of respect to you. You'd want to be financially set for life if you were in our position. And I'll bet a lot of you would want fancy cars and mansions too. Tell me you'd reject all that stuff and be altruistic if you were in our position.
We do a darn good job keeping America afloat whether you know it or not. And yet most of you are so ungrateful. You don't know all the threats to your well being that are out there that we guard you against. We let you be mad at us, because most of the time we have better things to do than defend our actions, but enough is enough. You need to understand that we are public SERVANTS. We work more hours than you'll ever know protecting this country against more things than we can ever tell you about. Plato knew what he was talking about promoting a republic over a democracy. You all need smart people like us running the government because the average joe cannot. No matter how well -intentioned he is. We use all our brains keeping things going, and if we let you know everything we did, the country would fall apart because you all aren't smart enough to be trusted with that information. I hate to sound mean talking like that, but it's true.
So I guess it's worth taking all the insults from you guys and looking incompetent if I get to protect you every day against things you'll never know. I deserve a lot as a legislator, and get far less than what I deserve. I'm sorry you feel differently. But I hope you have a nice day anyhow.
Sincerely,
Your ELECTED official"
Well, that's the letter I'd like to see. Probably will never see it. I personally hate almost everyone in Washington although I know none of them personally. Still, I'm TRYING to see things from their point of view here. I think I did a pretty good job putting myself in their shoes with my limited knowledge.
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