Not surprising at all. Just as the Internet has made it much easier for
ordinary citizens to write their Congressentities, so it's made it far less
work for said Congresscritters' staffers to fire back form-letter responses
that don't address specific issues...
----- Original Message -----
From: "tschibasch" <tschibasch_at_yahoo.com>
To: <OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 12:14 PM
Subject: [OliveStarlightOrchestra] Citizens and their governments
> Every time I see the news I get more depressed that something
> terrible is going to happen soon. It seems the United States is at
> war with a group of totalitarian governments and terrorist groups
> scattered around the globe.
>
> This helpless feeling I have is surely misplaced, isn't it? I mean,
> our government is more representative than most. (And that ain't
> saying too much, when you look at a country like Iraq!)
>
> What can I do, as a citizen of these United States?
>
> Besides voting in every election since becoming of age, for many
> years I have written letters to congresspeople with my concerns.
> These letters were often unanswered, or I got a note back saying
> something like "thanks for the letter". Heck, I could have said
> anything in the letter, and I would have gotten such an answer! Did
> the letter get read? I stopped writing for a while.
>
> Last month I sent a letter to Dianne Feinstein. Amazingly, this was
> answered in a way that indicated that someone, somewhere, read it.
> Please feel free to look at my letter and Feinstein's response.
>
>
> Here is my letter, with whatever heading and formatting removed:
>
> Dear Senator Feinstein,
>
> First of all, I want to acknowledge that your party has
> always had my support, as I have been aggressively voting as a
> Democrat for many years. I would like to bring a matter to your
> attention, which apparently has been going on unnoticed:
>
> As media attention focuses on President Bush's "War On Terrorism"
> which targets the Middle East, we now ignore past military
> involvements during our "War On Drugs" which targeted South America.
> What ever happened to the "War On Drugs"? Did we win?
>
> For the citizens of Colombia, the results of this war have been
> tragic: Over the last several years the United States has supplied
> military aid to different repressive governments of Colombia, while
> paramilitary death squads have been killing opposition figures and
> union activists, almost with impunity. The new president, Alvaro
> Uribe Velez, is no friend of democracy. He declared a state of
> emergency after taking office in August 2002.This crackdown will
> permit further attacks on civil liberties.
>
> The Colombian government should not be receiving any military aid
> from the United States, a country that has long espoused human
> rights. When President Bush recently told the Cuban government to
> stop its repression, he should have sent the same message to the
> Colombian government.
>
> I would appreciate it if you, being an important senator from an
> important state in the union, would bring attention to this problem,
> which is occurring in our hemisphere.
>
> Sincerely,
> John Turley
>
>
>
> Here is the response:
>
> Dear Mr. Turley,
> Thank you for your letter about my vote for the Resolution
> authorizing the use of force against Iraq.
>
> This was not an easy decision and it came after a great deal
> of thought, consideration, and study. While I continue to have
> serious concerns about a pre-emptive, unilateral attack against Iraq,
> I voted for the Resolution because I believe it will encourage the
> United Nations to pass a new, robust Security Council Resolution to
> compel disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and avoid
> war. I have been reassured by statements made by the President in his
> address to the United Nations on September 12th which conveyed a
> commitment to work with the U.N. towards that goal.
>
> There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein and his arsenal of
> chemical and biological weapons pose a real and persuasive threat to
> the safety and security of the United States, the Persian Gulf, and
> the Middle East. We must push for a resolution now or risk paying a
> high price later.
>
> Attached please find a copy of the floor statement I mande on
> the subject which fully express my views. I understand the
> seriousness of this vote and I thank you for sharing your views with
> me.
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
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>
>
Received on 2002-10-30 12:41:48