Would you like some cheese with that whine?
I’m going to get some flak for this article, but that’s okay. That’s one of the great things about living in this country—we can say what we feel, regardless of what others may think.
Thirty presidential candidates spent months running for office. While telling everyone what they would do if elected President, they were doing absolutely nothing to deal with the many critical challenges facing this country at the moment. While that is indeed sad, there are others, on both sides of the aisle, that could have been addressing some of these issues but have obviously chosen not to.
In the spirit of an old-fashioned high school civics class … were you aware of the fact that we, you and I, elected a total of 535 politicians to go to Washington D.C. for the sole purpose of R-E-P-R-E-S-E-N-T-I-N-G our best interests? That’s right … 100 Senators (2 from each state) in Congress and 435 voting Representatives in the House. They work for us! What have they been doing for the past year? By the way, this is NOT a Republican or Democrat issue. They have proven to be equally worthless. This is a leadership issue … one that had better be dealt with in the near future!
Take a look at the following list. Don’t let me influence you in any way. Browse the list of current issues and see how many have been solved or even improved upon in the past year … keeping in mind that this is what those politicians were sent to Washington to accomplish.
- Oil prices
- Food prices
- Current National Debt
- Immigration issue
- Mortgage crisis
- Military costs
- Healthcare crisis
- Civil rights
- Homeland security
- Tax credits
- Crime
- Drugs
- Education
- Environment
- Trade balance
- Pork barrel spending
- Foreign policy
- Gun control
- Jobs
- Social Security
- Welfare and poverty
- Tax reform
Happy with the results? Thought not. However, anyone can complain about these things like I’m doing. In fact, everyone does. All of those politicians complain when giving their speeches. They simply do nothing about it. Television commentators from both liberal and conservative stations make a fortune complaining about these issues while pointing out who’s to blame … but they speak little or nothing about what to do about it.
Let me ask you this. If you owned your own business and these non-performing politicians were on your payroll, would you continue to increase their pay? Would you even keep them on your payroll? Well, these politicians DO work for you. They DO continue to vote themselves raises. And you haven’t fired them. But you can! And you should, if things don’t change. Let’s STOP talking about these things and DEMAND the LEADERSHIP this country deserves.
It’s actually very simple.
Go to Congress.org, and you’ll see a box which reads:
My Elected Officials
Find and contact your federal, state, and local officials.
Enter Zip Code _______
Enter your zip code, click on GO and you’ll be taken to a page listing your Senators and Representatives.
Under each name, click on Send them a Message.
You’ll be taken to a page that gives you a list of issues. You can click on any one of them OR click on Compose Your Own Message.
You’ll be taken to a page where you can compose your letter and send it to whomever you choose. Don’t let me influence you as to your area of displeasure. Browse that list above again and speak your own mind.
Do us all a major favor. Send your message informing him/her that if you don’t start seeing action from them in YOUR area of concern that you will definitely vote against them in the next election and urge everyone you know to do the same.
Then actually walk the talk by encouraging others to do the same. Hold these politicians (Republicans, Democrats and Independents) to their many promises while demanding the leadership we deserve. If we don’t demand it, we’ll regret it later. Let us, as voters, demonstrate the leadership we seek by exhibiting leadership ourselves. Make a difference today!
About Harry K. Jones
Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.
Just read your article about contacting Washington to voice our concerns about so many of today’s important issues. I have to admit that my first thought is that it’s a little too late for that. Our country appears doomed at this point. As I read on, you changed my mind. NOW is the exactly the time in which we should speak up. Both parties have failed us and it’s our fault for allowing it to happen. We must start thinking and acting as a country as opposed to one party or the other. Thank you for planting the thought and providing the link to reach our representatives. Let us all pray for a better future and do what we can to make it happen.
Robin