One American

I don't usually get political here because I'm not about controversy but the last few days of news has made me write this. Maybe Speaker Pelosi will read it, yeah, right, probably hasn't read my emails either. Maybe some of the Republican leadership(Boehner, Hoyer, etc.) will see this and say to themselves, "Oh I get it". Maybe President Bush will come across it when he's Googling something else. I believe my blog has come up when the word "cowboy" is googled, can't remember why but maybe by some freak accident they'll read this.

First Speaker Pelosi- you can't make an announcement to the American people that you will pass a bill but you need Republican cover. Have some courage, stand up for what you believe is right for Americans, not for your politics. Republicans don't believe in this kind of government. You do not instill confidence that this is the best thing for the American people or economical interests around the world if you are so concerned about "not taking the hit". You have to man up. You have to say, this is what's right and we Democrats will take whatever hits necessary because this is the only way. If you aren't willing to say that, then you need to work out a better plan, regardless of how long it takes.

Dear Republicans, I believe it was Congressman Boehner who said "this bill is a crap sandwich" how do you think this instills any confidence in your party or constituents? This bill is either the right thing or the wrong thing. If you don't believe in it, hold your ground, don't suck it up and vote for it or if you do believe it's a necessary evil then do what you have to do but please, don't call it a "crap sandwich" and expect everyone to just roll over and take it.

You see, I knew the sub-prime loan to purchase a home was a crap sandwich. I am the most financially irresponsible person on the earth and I walked away. But now because of this bill I'm wondering why I didn't go on and take a bite of the crap sandwich because I'd be able to more than likely keep the house I couldn't afford in the first place but decisions were made that we were not going to bite because we(the spousal unit and myself) know exactly who we are and had we taken that loan to have the American dream or better yet my dream of my own little piece of Florida we would be up to our ears in crap sandwiches right now.

So Congressman Boehner if a bill is a crap sandwich then you guys should be working 24 hours a day to make it into a bologna sandwich(which most people would still say is a crap sandwich but it's better than real crap) or better yet make it a ham sandwich. Give us, the American people, a reason to trust your judgement.

Speaker Pelosi, make a stand, do what you believe is right, screw the politics, make me a believer, show me why I--the swing voter(I'm a registered libertarian, which broke my grandmother's deeply rooted Southern Democratic heart), show me that you stand behind what you believe in, even if you don't think it's the best way but it's the way we need to go right now. Give me confidence in the process, that it's not all about who has a bigger one but what is right.

I want someone to make a decision because it's right for once, not because it's politically expedient.

The American people aren't so much upset about $700 billion dollars because really those are just numbers on paper, who really knows what's passed back and forth between departments and countries. It's that this bill has gotten so out of hand, bankruptcy protection, student loans, credit cards and car loans. WTF? I understand mortgages and home equity loans and believe me I was wondering about what might happen down the road when Ditech and Lending Tree were running commercials every 15 mins. I was raised that when you own a home you don't touch the equity for a cruise or bill consolidation it's your home, it's the most important thing you own, or are trying to own, why risk it to have the cash now? I don't understand. People are responsible for making those bad decisions and people like me, who made a responsible financial decision, one of the only ones in a life time of huge mistakes where money is concerned, but I have to pay for it? Doesn't anyone see anything wrong with that? I think that's where the anger comes from.

My kids will pay for their college a class at a time if necessary. Our cars are older, a 93 and 2001, why do I get stuck paying for someone else's new car? Why am I stuck securing someone else's bad credit card debt? I don't understand. No financial institution has ever had a problem turning me down for a loan. How did we, as a country, come to this place? What did all those people in expensive houses, driving Escalades know that I didn't? And why at this moment am I not one of them because I could be lucky enough to be living in a $250,000 government housing project, I could be driving a $50,000 state owned vehicle, because that's what it's going to be when the government buys up all this bad debt. At least that's the way I see it, someone who doesn't understand the stockmarket or economics.

I do understand businesses and their credit lines and making payroll and keeping jobs, I get it, but the leadership of this country has got to be better about selling it because Americans are royally PO'd on both sides of the aisle.

And honestly I do want to know why John McCain and Barack Obama aren't in Washington doing their day jobs. This is what it's all about, it's about long hours at the table, it's not fun, it's ugly business, it's not something to phone in. It's not as much fun as sleeping in hotels, riding around on a bus and making cute speeches. This is the job they are hired to do right now, this moment, but they have kind of left everything in the hands of their "teams" while they are vying for the promotion when the promotion should go to someone doing the real work of the country right now.

And finally one of the financial guys on CNN, Ali something, said yesterday that if you are against this bill you are not a student of economics and you need to just let the Congress do what they have to do and figure it out later. Well Mr. Ali, that's the problem, Congress, the leadership, they aren't telling us anything. All our futures are on the line and the best we can get out of anyone is "this bill needs to be passed", "we aren't doing this without Republican cover, we won't take the hit", and the ever popular, "this bill is a crap sandwich". Why should care, why shouldn't everything just crash and burn because the fact is, we, the average citizen is paying higher grocery bills, every day the prices go up a little more. Gas prices while stablizing are still high for people living payday to payday. Our kids still need clothes. Tell me Mr Ali, will anyone on Wall Street be selling their yacht because of this deal, will they be forced to pull their child out of private school, and enrolling them into the government run school system, will they be worrying about downsizing their mansion? Because right now the average citizen is worried about their paycheck on Friday, the grocery bill on Saturday and paying the phone bill, the water bill, the power bill come Monday.

So no we are not students of economics, we are students of life, and life right now, no matter how you flip it is ugly and this bill well it doesn't comfort us and if people would take a minute and do a little explaining, maybe we cross over to the way everyone else is thinking but right now a "crap sandwich" just doesn't do it for us.

So in conclusion I probably haven't made a lick of sense but if this inspires someone somewhere to actually explain this "crap sandwich" and the absolute need for it(European markets were up today as is the American stock market so...why the urgency to settle for something less than the best possible solution?) sell it to me, don't just tell me "because". I'm not five.

I tried to keep this as bipartisan as possible. I have no clue who I'm going to vote for come election day. I am frustrated and just want to understand. Yes this is probably rambling but I just couldn't bring myself to gather my thoughts in any other way. This is how they came out of my brain, Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman I'm not.