Editorial La La Land - Congressman Bart Gordon

I tried to send this to my local newspaper but I got a notice the their website key verification failed after I hit the send button. Fortunately I have learned to make a copy of all my letters to the editor because most of the time they end up in Editorial La La Land.

So here goes my letter to the editor, maybe someone in my State will get to read it:

Thank you for the article this weekend about the telephone meeting planned by Our Congressman Bart Gordon. On Thursday, last week I personally made a trip downtown to ask when our representative was going to be meeting with his constituents, as he has all previous years. I was told by the receptionist that he had not yet decided on a time but I could call anytime and see if a date had been set.

As most constituents of the 6th district I was befuddled trying to figure out how it was "more convenient" for his 700,000 constituents to go online and sign up for one of two telephone "meetings".

The only person convenienced by a telephone conference call is Congressmen Bart Gordon himself!

I called his office today to express my desire to still have an opportunity to meet with him face to face. If he wants to convenience all 700,000, he might set 3-4 dates for meetings at MTSU (Middle TN State University) Murphy Center or football stadium. I am sure many constituents could find time to attend, and be convenience by the large arena.

I told his office to consider how inconvienced people without internet connections are to be involved, since you can not sign up even by calling his office. For that matter, think about older residents that are totally uncomfortable with using computers. This just doesn't seem very accommodating to a very large sector of his district. After directly asking if people could go into his downtown office on main and use his internet to sign up for this conference call, his office staff told me, "Yes." So I thought it would be nice to inform all of Bart Gordon's constituents to head down to his office if they need to sign up for one of two phone calls he will be making before he runs back to Washington.

Also, I told them that I, personally, am highly inconvenienced by having a telephone conference because I have never had one in my life. It is unnerving. When will I get to speak? Will I have to listen to a long monologue from Bart Gordon without any feedback or comments? How will his office decided who gets to ask a question? Will it be a video conference? How will he really understand what the people want when he considers voting for upcoming bills? Is not a representative someone that is elected by a districts citizens to govern in their behalf, representing their principles and desires.

Noah Webster explained that a Republic was "a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people. In modern usage, it differs from a democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person."

How Can Bart Gordon represent this citizens of his district if he doesn't meet with them to understand how he should exercise the legislative power given to him, being elected by the people? Something just doesn't feel right about waiting months for my Congressman to come home from Washington to speak with him and to only get to do it over a large, controlled, impersonal conference call.

Frankly, it feels like he doesn't care what I or any other of his constituents think. Is this what American Congressional Representation has come to? If so, God help America regain our former governing principles that has made US the greatest country to live.