texaspodunk
10-08-2008, 11:45 PM
Who says you can' t be close to government in a small town? In fact, there were less than thirty people in city hall today when Congressman Hensarling came in to debrief us about the last two weeks in Washington.
:cool:
After we gave him a rousing standing ovation for having the courage to vote against the bailout legislation, he spoke at length about his observations of the current financial crisis. He directed blame squarely at Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, and also spoke very highly of Congressman Brad Sherman from California. He pondered whether, if enough time for deliberation were allowed, he and Congressman Sherman could have drafted a bipartisan counterlegis lation that would have forced financial institutions to purchase insurance on their securities , thus funding, at least partially, a return to solvency for the mortgage market. He lamented the unwillingness of the Democrats to allow substantive debate.
He said he thought at length on whether the legislation would take our country in the right direction, and he decided that it ultimately did not, although he did admit that House Republicans were able to secure at least a partial protection for taxpayers in the form of stock warrants. Congressman Hensarling could not vote for the bill regardless of those changes, and despite all the doom and gloom being uttered by the Bush administration.
"If this is something that will have repercussi ons for two generations, we shouldn't be in a rush to make such a decision overnight." Congressman Hensarling said, as he related to us that his two small children are always a factor how he votes.
Mine was the last question that he took. "Sir, thank you for taking my question." I began.
"I want to ask you about the Federal Reserve. It's clear to me that there is absolutely no incentive for Congress, either Democrats or Republicans, to be fiscally conservative when the Federal Reserve is set up as a means to monetize any kind of spending, be it pork, or other expansions of government . Without the Federal Reserve in place, the only other way that Congress can secure financing for all of their reckless spending is to raise taxes on Americans. As you know, no Congress that does so could ever survive the next election cycle. Since every time the Federal Reserve creates money for this purpose it creates inflation that ruins our currency, would you support Congressman Ron Paul's House Resolution 2755 to abolish the Federal Reserve and return monetary control to the U.S. Treasury where it belongs?"
The moment I said Ron Paul's name, he got a look in his eyes, with an expression that said, "Okay, here we go."
The Congressman turned to the room and said, "Boy, Ron Paul really has been a voice in the wilderness for a long time hasn' t he?" He turned back to me. "The truth is that I can' t look you in the eyes and say that i'll support [H. R. 2755] today , but I will look you in the eyes and tell you that this is something that I'm going to be looking at very seriously."
This was my first foray into American politics, and I'm very gratified. The fact that Congressman Hensarling is open minded enough to look into it is a very encouraging sign.
If my district puts enough pressure on our Congressman, and other districts do the same with their Reps, we may get H.R. 2755 out of committee and onto the floor of the House for open debate, which would be a great thing. It will probably not be adopt ed the first time around, but just the discourse would be useful, as it would hopefully illuminate the issue in a way that many in Congress probably haven't invested any thought into as a possible solution to reckless spending, as well as inflation.
With the fall of the Federal Reserve, so too falls the era of the power of the bankers over the wishes of the American People. My next task is to scare up a couple copies of "The Creature From Jekyll Island" for my Congressman as a pretext to the wider fact- finding task that he would have to necessitate. Perhaps this State Rep. Bryan Hughes, also present at the meeting, and Hensarling's heir apparent, and I could persuade Congressman Paul to take a puddle jumper up here and speak to folks about his languishing legislation. The more we know, the more powerful and reasoned our collective voice would be in pressuring Congressman Hensarling to cosponsor H.R. 2755.
Inflationary spending through the Federal Reserve is the underlying cause of so much that we want to change, not the least of which is stripping Congress of its accountability for spending, and stripping the American people of direct participation in government discourse.
We need a small cadre of conservatives who have demonstrated that they can't be bought by moneyed interests, like Hensarling has proven to me through the way he voted on the bailout legislation, and articulate that our collective goal is, at first, to just get H.R. 2755 out of committee and debate it. That will pave the way for Congressional testimony from the people who can best articulate the rationale for taking down the Fed.
I'm interested to know how many people in this forum have made any progress with their Representatives with respect to getting co-sponsorship for H.R.2755, if this is even been considered as a strategy.
I'm eager to hear from anyone and everyone on this.. particularly anyone in Hensarling's district, as we should immediately pool our resources.
yours in liberty,
Adam
After we gave him a rousing standing ovation for having the courage to vote against the bailout legislation, he spoke at length about his observations of the current financial crisis. He directed blame squarely at Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, and also spoke very highly of Congressman Brad Sherman from California. He pondered whether, if enough time for deliberation were allowed, he and Congressman Sherman could have drafted a bipartisan counterlegis lation that would have forced financial institutions to purchase insurance on their securities , thus funding, at least partially, a return to solvency for the mortgage market. He lamented the unwillingness of the Democrats to allow substantive debate.
He said he thought at length on whether the legislation would take our country in the right direction, and he decided that it ultimately did not, although he did admit that House Republicans were able to secure at least a partial protection for taxpayers in the form of stock warrants. Congressman Hensarling could not vote for the bill regardless of those changes, and despite all the doom and gloom being uttered by the Bush administration.
"If this is something that will have repercussi ons for two generations, we shouldn't be in a rush to make such a decision overnight." Congressman Hensarling said, as he related to us that his two small children are always a factor how he votes.
Mine was the last question that he took. "Sir, thank you for taking my question." I began.
"I want to ask you about the Federal Reserve. It's clear to me that there is absolutely no incentive for Congress, either Democrats or Republicans, to be fiscally conservative when the Federal Reserve is set up as a means to monetize any kind of spending, be it pork, or other expansions of government . Without the Federal Reserve in place, the only other way that Congress can secure financing for all of their reckless spending is to raise taxes on Americans. As you know, no Congress that does so could ever survive the next election cycle. Since every time the Federal Reserve creates money for this purpose it creates inflation that ruins our currency, would you support Congressman Ron Paul's House Resolution 2755 to abolish the Federal Reserve and return monetary control to the U.S. Treasury where it belongs?"
The moment I said Ron Paul's name, he got a look in his eyes, with an expression that said, "Okay, here we go."
The Congressman turned to the room and said, "Boy, Ron Paul really has been a voice in the wilderness for a long time hasn' t he?" He turned back to me. "The truth is that I can' t look you in the eyes and say that i'll support [H. R. 2755] today , but I will look you in the eyes and tell you that this is something that I'm going to be looking at very seriously."
This was my first foray into American politics, and I'm very gratified. The fact that Congressman Hensarling is open minded enough to look into it is a very encouraging sign.
If my district puts enough pressure on our Congressman, and other districts do the same with their Reps, we may get H.R. 2755 out of committee and onto the floor of the House for open debate, which would be a great thing. It will probably not be adopt ed the first time around, but just the discourse would be useful, as it would hopefully illuminate the issue in a way that many in Congress probably haven't invested any thought into as a possible solution to reckless spending, as well as inflation.
With the fall of the Federal Reserve, so too falls the era of the power of the bankers over the wishes of the American People. My next task is to scare up a couple copies of "The Creature From Jekyll Island" for my Congressman as a pretext to the wider fact- finding task that he would have to necessitate. Perhaps this State Rep. Bryan Hughes, also present at the meeting, and Hensarling's heir apparent, and I could persuade Congressman Paul to take a puddle jumper up here and speak to folks about his languishing legislation. The more we know, the more powerful and reasoned our collective voice would be in pressuring Congressman Hensarling to cosponsor H.R. 2755.
Inflationary spending through the Federal Reserve is the underlying cause of so much that we want to change, not the least of which is stripping Congress of its accountability for spending, and stripping the American people of direct participation in government discourse.
We need a small cadre of conservatives who have demonstrated that they can't be bought by moneyed interests, like Hensarling has proven to me through the way he voted on the bailout legislation, and articulate that our collective goal is, at first, to just get H.R. 2755 out of committee and debate it. That will pave the way for Congressional testimony from the people who can best articulate the rationale for taking down the Fed.
I'm interested to know how many people in this forum have made any progress with their Representatives with respect to getting co-sponsorship for H.R.2755, if this is even been considered as a strategy.
I'm eager to hear from anyone and everyone on this.. particularly anyone in Hensarling's district, as we should immediately pool our resources.
yours in liberty,
Adam