The Bail Out

I got the chance to briefly meet my Congressman over the weekend (if you can call seeing him ride by in a car with enough time to shout a couple words at him "meeting" him.). I thanked him, shortly, by saying "Thanks for voting No!". That was all I had time for. I hope he figured it out - he did a slight double take, then appeared to process the information and come to a conclusion about what I meant. Hopefully it was the right conclusion, as it was the right vote- both times - NO.

No to the bail out!

Or, in layman's parlance, The “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008”. They didn't even give it a good sounding name, with a catchy title acronym like the PATRIOT Act. I mean, would it have hurt to call it the "BEND OVER" act or the "NATIONALIZING OF THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM" act? I shudder to think of the acronym for that one, though. I guess they didn't have enough time for it.

Anyway, NO! Is how I would have voted, had I been in the Senate or the House. And I would have vetoed the bill, assuming I wasn't the President who came up with it in the first place along with my Wall Street buddies and gotten it introduced. Introduced, and passed, along with the help of a couple of Republicans.

Huh?

Did you all look at the Roll Call? In the House:
Democrats: 172 for, 63 against.
Republicans: 91 for, 108 against.

Over half the Republicans voted no? What happened to the lockstep? Behind the President come heck or high water? Sadly, not enough decided to stay broken with the Prez after the first failed attempt (HR 3997) was voted down:
Democrats: 140 for, 95 against
Republicans: 65 for, 133 against

Interesting numbers.

Senate Numbers:
Democrats: 40 for, 9 against (I am counting Lieberman as a D)
Republicans: 34 for, 15 against
Independent: 1 against,
No Vote: 1 (Kennedy (D-MA))


However, even HAD I been the President that originated the bill, I would have vetoed it! Why? Because the country I grew up in was a Republic! OF the People, BY the People, FOR the People, not Wall Street! Not a sneaky piece of legislation passed as a sudden NEED on the brink of Congress breaking, or the whole economy was going to fall apart. I suggest you read the text of the bill, educate yourself in legalese, because already the whole "point" of the bill has been shifted - the US Government is now going to be buying up stock in banks. Why?

Because the bill allows them to.

We just nationalized our Financial System, My Fellow Americans, and if I was President, I would vote NO!

Er, in the sense that I would veto, since I don't actually have a vote in the Congress (well, except for that of my Vice President in the Senate in case of a tie vote, I will find out what Jill or Coke would have voted regarding that bill).

Vote Ron Paul!

And failing that, Vote Jack!