I stood in front of a guardhouse watching Cadillac's, BMWs, Mercedes, and cars that cost more than many constituents of the 14th district earn in a year, drive into what once was an Arthur Anderson training facility. (The same Arthur Anderson that "cooked the books" for Enron.) Six of us stood outside the gate because we could not afford the $175 per plate entry fee to speak with "our U.S. Representative."
We stood in the lengthening shadows again as we have lived in the lengthening shadows of corruption that stretch over this land from what used to be "the people's house." Congress has now become a den for lobbyists and those who are dependent upon them. Since Hastert has been Speaker of the House the number of lobbyists has doubled to sixty-five lobbyists for every member of Congress. According to the Washington Post lobbyists spend $200 million per month "wining, dining" and seducing "our" federal officials.
I stood asking myself, "What's the use? I'm out here in the cold while they have "cocktails." But I was compelled to stand up to all that this event represented to me. Mr. Hastert has refused to meet with constituents of his district who lack health care, refused to sit down with those wanting peace, ignores the needs of those who have less than $175 per month to feed their children, and chooses to have dinner behind gates rather than open town hall meetings or debates.
We must stand-up to save our democracy. Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt warned us, others from both sides of the aisle and those shutout because they didn't have enough money to play, have all warned us that money had the potential to "chew up democracy and spit it out." Barry Goldwater cautioned "Elected officials must owe their allegiance to the people, not to their wealth or to the wealth of interest groups who speak only for the selfish fringes of the whole community."
As we stand in the voting booth this November we must seriously ask ourselves do we want a representative of the people or are we willing to allow Hastert to continue to sell Congress and our democracy to the highest bidder?