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It was supposed to start at 10:30 am at my local library. I didn't hear about it until 8 am this morning and had to rush over there after chores and was a bit nervous that I'd have to fight the crowd when I got there at 10:20.
Nobody was there. I actually asked at the circulation desk if I was in the correct meeting room since it was empty. Yup, they assured me.
So I went in and sat down. At 10:30 promptly two people from Randy Hultgren's office came in and said that they were representing him today. Okay so it's just them and me. Excellent I thought and prepared to do battle - except they agreed with virtually every point I made!
1. Raise taxes on rich and wealthy? Impose more taxes on corps? Yup, they've been hearing that by the hundreds daily. Only a few people are calling and saying something different. Mr. Hultgren is getting that message VERY clearly.
2. Stop playing games with the debt ceiling and get it passed as a clean bill? Yup, they've been hearing that too - virtually unanimously.
3. I told them that anyone who votes to alter Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid in any way would lose my vote period. Okay, they heard that loud and clear and completely understood.
At that point I was a little flummoxed. Since I'd ranted for about 10 minutes already and nobody was there I decided to keep going.
4. I told them that the Republicans have had their tax breaks for the "jobs creators" for 10 years now and look at the state of our unemployment. I said that this "experiment" in trickle down economics MUST cease and that the rich must do their part, they must also "share the sacrifice" and gave them the Mitch Daniels quote that I got from a DUer this morning. Furthermore I said (in my best incredulous voice) that the Republicans are bringing up social issues bills instead of focusing on jobs?!! Ridiculous! (The two reps had been really nice up to this point but I had a little bit of steam here at the end and wanted to make sure they knew that while I'd been polite, I really was pissed). I exhorted them both to read Naomi Klein's book on disaster capitalism and that the politicians in Washington weren't fooling anyone out here in the real world.
At that point an elderly woman came in and was standing at the door. The reps asked me for my name, address and phone number which I provided while they admired the local library. That got me on a rant about how Mr. Hultgren could do something about getting libraries like it fully funded so they can stay open (ours is operating on minimal open hours because of funding cut-backs) instead of funding useless wars like Iraq and Afghanistan. Then I thanked them, and they thanked me after assuring me Mr. Hultgren really DID get feedback from these sessions and I left.
The whole thing took 50 minutes - the drive to the library, the wait, the 15 minute discussion with the reps and the drive home. I was back in time for lunch chores.
Mission accomplished? Who knows. They were extremely polite and actually very agreeable to my comments. The woman made notes and the two of them provided a real dialogue. I feel like I did a bit more in participating in our "civil society" without any real stress on my day.
If you can, I encourage other DUers to get themselves heard. It's harder for them to ignore us if we are actually in their face.
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