Elected officials reply without content
To the editor:
A month ago, I wrote letters to my Representative, our two Florida Senators and, of course, the President. The basic thesis of the letter was that any jobs program should be required to be labor intensive in order to actually give work to those out of work, not simply throw taxpayer money at businesses which is why the stimulus failed.
I recounted that an out-of-state contractor friend of mine bid on a job to build a simple traffic roundabout from “shovel ready” stimulus funds. He hired no new employees and bought a new front-end loader. He and I agreed that the project could have been built with human labor by limiting the use of machinery and mandating use of labor.
Agree or not, it is the “canned letters” I received from all the above that bother me. Not one addressed my proposal or idea. Instead, they told me all the wonderful things THEY had proposed and want ….. their respective party line!
This answers the reason no one likes our professional politicians. In a democratic republic, our representatives (?) do not represent the majority of their constituents wants, but follow their party line to tell us what THEY want, not what we want.
So, next time you think you live in a democracy and have an idea, write your elected officials and don’t be surprised if their reply has nothing to do with what you wrote them about!
James F. Kaserman
Fort Myers