Bailout Protest--An Arkansas Congressman Replies

Many citizens have protested the federal government's bailout of Wall Street. Even more appear to be protesting the current desire, particularly among Democrats, to bail out automakers, liberal newspapers, and credit card companies that are now designated as 'banks' in order to qualify for a Washington handout.

One citizen in particular took his protest directly to his local U.S. Congressman.

Paul W. Davis of Fayetteville wrote a stern letter to Arkansas Republican and 3rd District U.S. Congressman John Boozman, castigating him over his support of the bailout.

Here is Paul's letter to Boozman:

Dear Rep. Boozman,

Due to your stand on the Bailout, I did not vote for you in this most recent election. I consider your approval of the ill-conceived Bailout plan to be grounded in a total lack of foresight and ignorance of economics. You had to know that sitting a proverbial "pot of gold" in front of those who had demonstrated irresponsibility in operating and managing their respective companies would only lead to throwing money down the proverbial "rat hole." In short, you bailed out those who where known to be irresponsible and undeserving of anything other than a jail term for fraud. Moreover, you gave control of it to a man that is a habitual liar - Henry Paulson, Sect. of the Treasury. Just what did you expect the result of the Bailout to be?

When you have finished destroying this country through your nonsense and poor judgment, don't expect anyone to appreciate you. I certainly don't, and will not unless and until you demonstrate to me that you have obtained some common sense from somewhere.

Sincerely,

Paul W. Davis

Doing one's duty as a citizen to keep government in check involves much more than merely participating in a poll, opinion survey, or writing a letter to the editor in a local newspaper. Sometimes we must take our concerns directly to those who were elected to represent us.

Boozman, who is in his 4th term in Congress, made this reply to Paul's letter:

Dear Mr. Davis,

Thanks so much for your email voicing concerns about the economic recovery plan. I have had many views, both positive and negative, and very good suggestions concerning the plan. We have and will continue compiling this information to use and to pass along.

As you know, the financial market worldwide has and is experiencing chaos, with many huge banks and institutions failing and creating a domino effect. The economy and the stock market are now in crisis. American families are beginning to face great difficulty in getting loans to purchase a home, buy a family car or finance a child's education and small businesses are unable to attract the credit they need to keep and create jobs. If the government didn't act, there was fear of an international meltdown of the financial industry and this plan was an effort to cushion the blow. My concern is and has always been to protect the taxpayer first by ensuring that 401(k)'s, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA's), and pensions are safe and to prevent further layoffs and loss of jobs.

I have been very disappointed in the lack of oversight so far and will help to change that in the future. I have also been angry over reports that institutions who have received taxpayer money are using that money for executive bonuses and lavish trips and will work to make sure that is not the case and I support the appointment of a special prosecutor to indict those that are responsible for causing this mess. I also have real concerns with further bailouts for troubled industries and a huge additional stimulus package and I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the coming months to further address our country's economic situation. Thanks again for the input. Please be sure to visit my website at www.boozman.house.gov for further updates.

Sincerely,
John Boozman
Member of Congress

So, has the Congressman seen the light or not?