The status quo is in trouble in America today. On Tuesday the 19th, just yesterday, voters in Massachusetts elected a Republican to fill the senate seat formerly occupied by Edward Kennedy, the "Liberal Lion", and you already know the rest of the story. Today there are recriminations flying with Democratic operatives blaming each other for the party's poor showing, rather than looking at the real cause: the pushing of pet programs that are ill-considered, costly and against the wishes of the American People. 
There is a lesson to be learned if Missouri's Democrats are paying attention; it could happen here. The current representative (Russ Carnahan) for the 3rd Congressional district is little more than a puppet on a string for the national party bosses. He seems to be afraid to engage his own constituents. And he's not much of a speaker. I drove down to Festus last year to hear him give his State of the District address and all he had to say for himself was that he had helped pass the Lily Ledbetter act (a fair pay law that affects very few workers) and had been allowed to cosponsor a bill.
Mr. Carnahan's real accomplishment, the No Banker Left Behind Act (officially known as TARP) he did not mention. But it was his defense of funding for the bad boy bankers that got a lot of voters attention. Mr Carnahan's parroting of the assertion that they were "too big to fail" seemed to most of us like a slap in the face. It was as if he were saying, "You're too little to concern us."
I expected this kind of behavior from George Bush's people, but when a fellow democrat spits on me, I think it's time for a new representative.

In my work with the down and out (every winter I staff a homeless shelter one night a week) I see some of the many people in our area that are in need of the basics of life - food, clothing and shelter. A stumbling block for many of them, when they are finally able to stabilize themselves and find work and housing, is past utility bills. It is very easy for them, when the weather gets cold, to wind up with electric and gas bills they cannot pay. The Cap and Trade energy bill that the Mr. Carnahan helped pass in the House (it seems to be currently stalled in the Senate), will cause these bills to soar, increasing hardship not only to the poor, but to the middle class as well (the middle class will pay a disproportionate part because our price includes what the poor aren't able to pay). And we haven't even gotten to the health care mess. All of this insensitivity on the part of the Democratic incumbent plays right into the hands of the Republican challenger (who is hardly a friend of the poor and working class). If the Democrats of the 3rd district don't choose a new candidate in the August primary, the people of the 3rd district will.
August 3, 2010 - go to the poll and vote in a real representative of the people - Edward Crim