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Americans are frustrated and disillusioned with government and our leadership who think they know what’s best for "We the People." They refuse to listen, and therefore can’t hear the pain in the voices of Americans who cry out for jobs. Health care doesn’t matter when you are hungry. Cap and trade doesn’t matter when you don’t have a job.
When Americans look to Washington for relief and jobs, they see a group of millionaires who have not the slightest idea about Americans’ hunger, their needs and genuine concern for the future of their beloved nation. Instead of jobs, they have a so-called new entitlement forced on them and will now be required to purchase insurance or face fines and possible jail.
Americans also see the uncaring disinterest these above-it-all millionaires have for the people of Mississippi and Louisiana ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, and still ignored while billions are being spent nation-building in foreign lands. Oh, how Americans long for leadership they can trust, leaders with character and integrity, leaders who understand you can’t spend your way out of debt.
Americans seek leaders they can believe in, "change they can believe in," leaders who can "bring us all together," and leaders who are not "just words."
America’s leadership breeds disrespect, discontent and anger when solemn promises are delegated to underlings like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. They take the heat for the bill their leader says he will sign, all the while knowing the needed votes for passage cost Americans $300 million to Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, $1.4 billion to Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, $100 million to Connecticut’s Chris Dodd and $54 million to Nancy Pelosi, and more not yet known.
Americans have been stabbed in the back with just words, like "transparency." See it on C-Span, every word on every page will be read, no pork, no lobbyists in my administration; and if the bill raises the deficit by one dime, I won’t sign it. Just words.
And the brazen audacity of Landrieu, who said, "My vote can’t be bought." Just words.
And worse, our leaders proclaim, "the system worked" after a bomb was nearly set off on an airliner in Detroit. Just words.
It is no wonder Americans have lost respect for their government. And in defense of themselves, our leaders proudly state, "That’s the way the legislative process works." Jut words.
Cynicism has replaced trust. Corruption has replaced integrity. Anger has replaced hope.
But out of it all, a new resolve in America: A resolve to make things right, to correct the wrongs in Washington, to honor our Constitution and its precepts. Not just words written on parchment but penned with resolve and conviction after prayerful consideration, to evoke real change that fosters good will, right thinking and God-inspired wisdom for the ages.
It is for all Americans, not just the elite in Washington who don’t care one whit about us.
William I. "Sonny" Sykes Jr.
Gainesville