I think the senate is unclear on the concept of why the House bailout was rejected, at least by the House Republicans and the vast majority of the American people.  It isn’t that we don’t want the problems fixed, it is that we don’t want to pay for the mistakes and greed of Congress coupled with Wall Street.

Make no mistake, we know who’s fault this is (well, at least some of us do).  And the Senate version of the bailout does not address the problem, it confirms and extends it.  The same essential bill is being offered, but with more pork.  I am disappointed in John McCain for supporting this bill.  It won’t help his election campaign, and it violates his stated principles about pork and waste.

Earmarks, pay for play, and lobbying got us into this mess, made it worse, and are not going to solve it for us.

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Below is the text of an email I sent to my senators today.

Please vote against the bailout bill.  I have already contacted my Representatives office (Mike Conaway) and thanked him for voting against it.  I hope to be able to thank you as well on Wednesday.

The bailout has been necessitated by poor policy that was the enabled by the Community Reinvestment act and poor oversight by Congress.  The activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the stewardship of Henry Paulson, John Snow, and their predecessors.

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Guy Kawasaki, former apple evangelist and current entrepreneur has suggested that the Republicans need to reframe the debate on the bailout.  While I don’t completely agree with the solution, since I oppose the bailout entirely, he has an interesting point.   Politics is marketing.

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I’ve decided it is time to re-engage with politics in my life.  I do not like the way that things are going.  I’ve always been center-right, but since Reagan I’ve pretty much voted and not much else.  So what have I gotten for my inaction?

Eight years of Bill Clinton, almost 4 years of Al Gore (shudder), and 8 years of a weak George Bush.  A congress lead by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, who do not seem to know how to lead, but only to blame.

Now, I’m not happy with my own party at all.  But what alternative do I have?  A party that would rather see a weakened America, with good paying jobs shipped overseas so as not to offend the radical environmentalist wing of their party?  A media willing to lie to get their candidate elected?  A nearly trillion dollar bailout because the Democrats created a system that required and encouraged and enabled banks to make bad loans to people who shouldn’t have gotten them?

I can’t continue being part of the problem, I’ve got to start being part of the solution, or at least to stop enabling the corruption that is destroying our country.

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