I do my best to always vote. I particularly feel that local elections are important and each of us can make a big difference if we support strong local leadership.
This year I was eager to vote, despite only one state and no local elections. Marsha Blackburn is my congresswoman. I called her before the bailout bill vote. Please do not vote for the bailout. She did not. I was thrilled. I mailed her campaign a check and called again. Please do not vote for the bailout on the second vote. Sure enough, she voted against the bailout.
I headed to the gym early on Tuesday before the polls were open. Sweats and all, I headed back to the Hickory Valley City Hall where my neighbors volunteer long days to make sure we can vote. I voted for Marsha. I was far from the only one. Despite a Democratic sweep, Blackburn, a Republican, returned to office with a reported 67% of the votes.
According to the IRS tax stats, Tennessee citizens filed 2.7 million returns in 2006 on adjusted gross income of $134 billion, including salaries and wages of $96 billion. We had a total federal tax liability of $17.5 billion. So you can imagine how we feel about the federal government gifting billions of dollars to the top banks on Wall Street so they could pay out $70 billion in bonuses this year.
Keep up the good work, Representative Blackburn.
After some phone calls to staff about the bailout in Wisconsin’s 8th District,
I faxed a signed letter to Rep. Steve Kagen. Dr. Kagen, a Democrat, voted against the bailout
both times.
In the Senate, the two Democratic senators from WI split– one for one against.
Russ Feingold always comes down of the right side of the issues– including the Patriot Act.