Pursuing praxis :: September

September 24, 2008

Letters to Senators on the financial crisis

To paraphrase HB, I think America can withstand the crisis economically, but I’m not at all sure we can survive it politically and ideologically.

Feel free to copy or modify for your own use in writing to government officials. Email links included.

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Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer,

Casual perusal of local and national media sources hasn’t indicated to me your views on the proposed $700billion bailout under consideration. I’m not a regular letter-writer to anyone. But this situation is too important for me to be silent. Allow me to chip in my two cents.

Please, for the sake of our economy and future as a nation, join with Senator DeMint and others in identifying and condemning the policies that encouraged poor judgment, bad loans, and short-term thinking in the banking industry. Join with Senator Dodd and others in identifying the grave threats to the Constitution (and therefore the American people at large) that this Fed- and Treasury-brokered deal embodies.

While it may be tempting to lessen the perceived hardship by spreading it around to those of us who aren’t going bankrupt or losing our homes, it’s not something we deserve. More importantly, it’s contrary to the purpose and proper function of Government to determine that Joe Taxpayer should pick up the tab. It’s not the place of Government to dictate to investors, charities, neighbors or the populace at large how they should respond to a foreclosed homeowner, a failing company, or a struggling industry.

Charity that is obtained and distributed by force (which is what the Government boils down to), is not charity; it is extortion, no matter how sweetly justified or how noble the intended result. And defending the power to extort "in times of need" concedes the point that extortion is permitted. Period.

America and Americans can recover from poverty a lot faster than we can recover from statism, be it in the garb of socialism, collectivism, or nationalism. History shows that the most crippling forms of statism were born of good intentions and widely endorsed by the citizens. But good intentions don’t change what statism is and where it leads. Freedom is a pre-condition for long-term health and wealth. Please don’t sacrifice our freedom for the short-term cushioning of some people’s bad decisions.

When none are allowed to fail, all will fail. But when ALL are free and some people choose to work for and achieve mind-boggling success - without enslaving OR being enslaved by the less successful - everyone is unequivocally boosted by that success. And we desperately need success that is grounded in reality and robust, not speculative, frivolous and detached from reality.

The threat of reality, of real and massive failure in real markets - which the banking industry has been shielded from for some time now - will provide greater "oversight" than an army of bureaucrats (and for free). Please, let the short-term thinkers that caused this mess be confronted with the consequences of their decisions in reality - rich and poor investors alike, business and government alike. Let us learn a lesson in fundamentals from this economic crisis. Otherwise we’ll go through it again because we didn’t learn.

Producers and prudent consumers, each voluntarily acting in their own rational, long-term self-interest (no matter what their income level or market share), are what forms the bedrock of our economy. They are the only ones who can turn the economy around in the long run.

Please oppose the bail-out proposal. Don’t sacrifice the wise and responsible by punishing them with debt that isn’t theirs. Don’t sacrifice our freedom in order to shield us from reality.

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Dear Senator DeMint,

I wish Senators from my own state (CA) would follow your lead in opposing the Wall Street bail-out. While I don’t agree with all of your social positions, in terms of economics you’re a beacon of light in the current crisis. Hopefully you are able to educate and inspire more Americans and policy-makers, and America will come out of this economic, ethical and political crisis wiser and only a little worse for wear.

Please don’t give up.

Good luck to you.

———

Email Pres. Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
Email Vice-Pres. Cheney: vice- president@whitehouse.gov
Email the Board of the Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov/feedback.cfm
Email the Treasury: comments@whitehouse.gov,
http://answers.usa.gov/cgi-bin/gsa_ict.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

Sen. DeMint (R-SC):
Read: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/demint-opposes-wall-street-bailout-2008-09-22.html
Email: http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

Find your Senators’ email addresses:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=CA

Find your State Representatives’ email addresses:
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

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