Disgrace!

I was extremely disappointed to learn that my representative, Mike McCaul, voted for HR 1586 yesterday.  That was the bill designed to confiscate bonuses from AIG officials.  Now, you may say, "Why?  They wasted tax-payer dollars to give huge bonuses to failures!"  The fact of the matter is that these were legal contracts, entered into before the crisis and before the federal bailout.  The government knew (or should have known) about them beforehand, and therefore they are to blame for the waste, not the bonus recipients.  

We should all be angry and afraid at what the government has just done: they have created a new tax designed specifically to punish a small group of American citizens that did not break a single law.  I hope the law gets struck down in court on constitutional grounds, because this is ridiculous!  It is a disgrace to everything our country stands for.

Below is the letter that I wrote to my congressman.  Michelle Malkin has a list of the Republican congressmen who voted for this bill, and you can find out who your representative is and write to them here.  Please make your voice heard!  We need to throw all these people out and make sure they know WHY they are being thrown out.

Congressman McCaul,

I am extremely disappointed to learn that you voted in favor of HR 1586 yesterday. My wife and I gave you our votes in hopes of having a representative that would help return some modicum of responsibility to our government. Instead, you let yourself get carried away in the emotion of a media-generated mob mentality to aim an unconstitutional tax at a specific group of Americans. Now that we know that legally binding contracts can be effectively abrogated by congressional fiat, what assurance do I have that the government won't change or invalidate the mortgage contract on the house I'm about to buy? What assurances can you give my family that the government won't decide to reach even deeper into our pockets, just because of who I work for, what church I attend, where I live, who I vote for, what views I hold, or just because they want to?

It is bad enough that our government is doing what Alexis de Tocqueville feared would be our end when he wrote, "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." But it's far, far worse than that when Congress begins using the tax code as a punitive weapon.

I understand that this measure enjoyed a significant level of popular support. However, that is no excuse for supporting it yourself. It shouldn't matter what the polls say; if a measure is wrong and unconstitutional, it should not be law. Isn't that precisely why we have a constitution? To protect us from mob rule and the tyranny of the majority?

I hope that you'll see from my letter and those of your other constituents that we crave representation that will restore responsibility, respect for the Constitution, and governance by principle rather than emotion to Congress. I will be looking for someone to oppose you in the Republican primaries next year if you cannot demonstrate these qualities through your votes.

Sincerely,

David Merriman