THE OPEN OFFICE - An Open Letter to Congressman Dent
I serve up yet another letter to my unresponsive representative with ideas on how he could become a more responsive and accountable representative. by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
(libertarian)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Dear Congressman Dent -
I have noticed from my correspondence with you that you do not have time to reply back, or spend time with me personally to cover the issues I have highlighted to you. I have even gone to the admittedly rather extreme effort of attending five of your town halls and handing my eight (8) open letters to you in person, as well as sending them by email and phone (in addition to many other letters).
Again, my key concern is I have no idea where you stand on monetary policy, and as this dollar crisis unwinds I am quite concerned that you are doing absolutely nothing to help the residents of our district and our country. In fact, the actions you are taking are having the exact opposite effect of helping. Ranging from your recent approval $50+ billion in foreign aid spending (much of it military aid to countries such as Egypt, Israel, Guatemala, Jordan, Indonesia, and many, many others) to many other votes for rampant Big Government spending (like your vote last week to spend $4.125 for government sponsored research on car technology in HR 3246), your continued silence on this issue makes me conclude that you certainly do not stand for a sound money as I do.
However, in some ways, your lack of response is understandable as you do have about 700,000 residents in our district to serve. Therefore, let me offer to you my idea to help you solve this problem. The idea is called "Our Open Office" and here are its' key benefits:
Citizen Empowerment
Each resident has a real public voice – to comment, vote, debate, and criticize
Each constituent will have a way to publiclydemand I address their ideas and concernsby submitting bills online
Citizens can summon me to an "On Demand" town hall by reaching a threshold level on topics they feel I am not addressing timely enough or to their satisfaction
By incorporating the feedback of specialists in different fields and interests, particularly with the bill submission ability, our office will be far more efficient with better ideas than other districts because our work force will be larger and more specialized. Those "working" outside of my office will be working voluntarily on issues that have the highest priority for them, empowering the individual citizen.
Accountability and Transparency
All residents can receive a monthly report from my office detailing each house floor vote taken, each bill introduced, and each bill co-sponsored. Feedback from the forum will be summarized into this report. Most importantly, I, the representative, will be forced to outline WHY I voted each way.
My office's budget report will be publicized and readily available on the website so citizens can see how their tax dollars were spent.
Empowering citizens to public discourse and enabling open, visible criticism and dissent of my actions makes me more accountable to the people.
Our Open Office consists of four simple parts. Here is how is works:
The first part is the Online Public Feedback & Debate Forum. Each resident of our district can create a login if they choose. A public moniker is chosen, which can be their real name or nickname by their choice. Comments from registered voters are flagged with an icon to denote their importance. Residents can sign up for email notifications on all issues, or just the issues they care most about.
Each House bill that is coming up for vote will have a webpage denoted for it. Residents can vote for or against bills, and leave comments or debate in the space below. Phone calls received at the office are tallied along with letters on the same page so everyone can see at a glance what the current opinion is.
Residents can also join topic-oriented forums and create debates on subjects they wish to discuss.
Those without internet access may visit the local office to use a terminal, request the current status or dictate comments manually when they call in by phone. Written letters and emails will be shared in the forum if the resident gives permission to share it.
The second part of Our Open Office is monthly reports. Each month a written monthly report will be issued by my office. It will include my position on each House floor vote, each bill co-sponsored, and each bill introduced. Most importantly, it will also include my reasoning so if residents disagree they can understand why. I will refer to the Forum's public feedback as well, especially if cases occur where I voted in one direction and the Forum's opinion was in the opposite direction. The office's financial budget reports will also be included in these monthly reports.
The next part of Our Open Office is the online bill submission service. Each resident can exercise their right to petition the government and can suggest new legislation. The only requirements are that the drafter must provide justification for the bill and must either cite one of the powers of Congress in the Constitution or, if revoking a current law or act, its unconstitutionality. Once the resident's bill proposal is submitted publicly, I am forced to publicly reply. I may either agree to introduce the bill, contact the drafter for more information or modification, submit the bill to the Forum for feedback, or reject the proposal. If rejected, I must disclose why.
I am very excited about the bill submission idea as it could allow us to multiply our office's output many times. We may even need to organize ourselves to sell our ideas to citizens in other districts and organizations to get these bills passed, instead of relying on corrupt lobbyists and partisan deal-making.
The last part of Our Open Office is on-demand town hall discussions. Town halls will be offered in either teleconference format while Congress is in session and in local meeting areas when Congress is not in session. There are two formats – open Q&A sessions or a specific issued discussed followed by Q&A afterwards. However, residents will also have the ability to summon me, their servant, to a town hall on an issue that I fail to address quickly enough by reaching a certain threshold limit in the forum. These town halls will be in addition to frequent video and written updates from the office.
I would like to conclude with resident feedback which has been resoundingly positive. Many have even told me, "That's exactly what I would do if I were elected." The vast majority of people in our district are fed up with economic ruin the Establishment has caused with their havoc on economic and civil liberties. Almost everyone believes their representatives are no longer accountable to them, and they are correct. This concept will cure this ill!!!
I am available for consultation either privately or publicly as I have spent a lot of time refining the idea and I have great ideas on the specifics of how this system should look like. This will also save me a lot of implementation time after my upcoming election in November 2010, and I would like to get it done "Right the First Time." If you are not interested, I would be curious as to know why. Thank you for your time.
Your fellow citizen,
Jake Towne
P.S. - Again, if you have the time only to reply to one issue, PLEASE reply to me concerning your stance on monetary policy and the Federal Reserve. I remain highly concerned that by your approval of the Banker Bailout of 2008 and your inaction and Big Government spending during the past five (5) years in Congress to make any effort to salvage the integrity of the nation's currency, the dollar, you have played a role in the eventual and likely demise of our monetary system.
I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on September 4, 2009, where I requested you to explain why you voted for HR 2749 which would, in my opinion, serve only to extend the government-sponsored cartelization of over our food supply.
I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on August 9, 2009, where I pointed out that health care legislation you support will have the same end effect as the current Democratic plan.
I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on July 21st, 2009, asking why you voted to give away $50 Billion in foreign aid, including $2 billion in military aid to Israel. I believe almost everyone in our district would agree with me that spending our tax dollars domestically would be better than frittering away them on economic and military aid abroad.
I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on July 7th, 2009, in regards to your thoughts on sponsoring a bill that would require Congress to read the bills before voting to pass them.
I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on June 26th, 2009, in regards to your thoughts on sponsoring a bill that would require Congress to only pass bills that address just 'One Subject at a Time.'
On June 4th, I sent you a note concerning the constitutionality of using of taxpayer funds on the nation's health care and asked a simple question in regards to HR 2516, the Medical Rights Act, a bill you co-signed. Could you please reply to this question?
On May 7th, I sent you a note requesting your thoughts on the Federal Reserve (specifically whether you would support abolishing it, and if not, why) and our nation's monetary policy. As requested above, could you please reply and inform me of your stance on the FED and monetary policy?
Jake Towne isrunning for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties. Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com and www.CampaignForLiberty.com. A novel campaign website where you can comment on articles and start discussions, TowneForCongress.com has recently opened. [Reach the Author Here!]
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
As always, unlike the NFL, the author grants full permission to allow any accounts of, rebroadcasts, retransmissions, repostings of this article to your blog or anywhere else in order to promote the Restoration of our Republic.
Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit. Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.
Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.
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in this article are those of Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution only and
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