Un-American?
Recently, I had a run-in with Congressman Joe Knollenberg in a local drugstore in Rochester that made it into the local and national media.
I wanted to ask Knollenberg about issues, namely his votes to continue to fund the war in Iraq, even though more and more evidence comes out every day that there is no military solution to the debacle there.
Secondly, I wanted to find out why he voted against expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program that would provide affordable health care to the low end of middle class citizens' children. Joe basically brushed me off and his chief of staff, Trent Wisecup, engaged me and proceeded into a tirade telling me I was un-American and that I was not a citizen, but a "political hack" due to my activism.
Since when do we lose our citizenship for being politically active? In the old days, dissent and activism were revered and admired. Not any more, at least not by Republicans, who think we should all just follow our leaders. Not in these days of the unitary executive (translated dictator) where the president claims more and more power and dissent is now considered un-American.
The Republicans in Michigan assail the governor for Michigan's job losses. Yet, Wisecup in his tirade attacked me, saying I want Toyota to win. Fact is, Toyota is a Michigan employer. Toyota employs 677 people at their York Township facility and Trent's rant attacked a major Michigan employer. Toyota employs several thousand people in the United States and they invested $150 million in their research facility in York Township, Michigan in 2005. It doesn't seem like a good idea, to me, to attack a company with that many good paying jobs that are so hard to come by these days in Michigan.
Joe and Trent are on the wrong side on almost every issue facing middle class Americans. A new poll from CBS News reveals that 81 percent of Americans support expanding SCHIP. Over 70 percent think America should responsibly withdraw from Iraq, but not Congressman Knollenberg, Trent Wisecup or George W. Bush.
I hope more of you will join me in getting up off your butts and make Congressman Knollenberg, Trent Wisecup and those of their ideological ilk accountable to the voters. Joe Knollenberg was elected to be our representative, and he works for us, not the other way around.
Bruce Fealk
Rochester Hills
1 comment:
Just a picky point - it's the Farmington Observer. Otherwise, excellent letter. I have no idea why Joe and Trent think dissent is un-American. In this country, it's not just our right to question our elected officials, it's our duty. All Joe has to do is answer the question - which he didn't. All he had to say was - I'm not going to get us out of Iraq, I believe in this war. I'm not going to vote for SCHIP, because I agree with the President.
He can't even stand up for what he believes and votes for.
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