It was the worst possible deal, the worst of both worlds. An enormous sum of money with no real oversight, and a central banker and Executive branch insider as the czar of nearly $1 trillion of taxpayers’ money. Payed for by the middle-class, and guaranteeing nothing. Come to think of it, it ain’t working. The stock market in another 400 point dive the other day and the Europeans saying: we’re not touching your plan with a ten-foot pole. Our people would hang us from the rafters.
Of the Massachusetts delegation Reps. Barney Frank, Michael Capuano, Ed Markey, Richard Neal, John Olver, James McGovern, and Niki Tsongas voted for the bailout, while Reps. Bill Delahunt, John Tierney, and Stephen Lynch voted against. Former Green Party gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross has agreed, upon the request of bailout opponents, to be the write-in against Rep. Jim McGovern of Worcerster based on the bailout issue. District map here.
Voters in Barney Frank’s district have two other people on the ballot, Republican Earle Sholley and Independent Susan Allen.
Allen hails from Brookline which, like Cambridge across the river, is known for discussing resolutions at town meeting which reach beyond the town’s borders, such as resolutions to halt the war in Iraq. She openly questions the official story on 9/11, as does, she points out, military pilots such as Col. Robert Bowman.
Allen also opposes the Boston biolab as too proximate for safety to a major population center.
Bail-out opponents are looking for write-in names to all the other congressmen who voted for the bailout. A large write-in vote is a barometer for the feasibility of a primary challenge, for which exploratory committees will begin soon.
If you want to be the anti-bailout write-in candidate in one of these districts, contact neimpeach-AT-gmail-DOT-com.
I have been asked to post the following from Grace Ross:
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p>”As many of you know, I strongly opposed and organized against the bail-out vote for reasons the majority of the public agreed with and that I have posted elsewhere. In addition, I continue to believe impeachment is a necessary limit to set that we will not tolerate abuse of powers and disregard of the most fundamental values our constitution and of course, I continue to oppose the renewal of funding of the occupation of Iraq and the military budget.
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p>I recognize that people will make their voice heard in the methods of their choice – the more methods, the more actively, the better!
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p>While I am deeply touched by the faith so many of you have in my ability to do a good job as your elected official (which I hope to be in a position to do my best to fulfill at some point in the future), I did not agree to put myself forward as a write-in against Congressman McGovern. While write-in campaigns can be very effective, I would encourage each of you who are unhappy with Congressman McGovern to speak to him directly, flood his office with calls, ask not just for an explanation but ask that he listen to you and that he fight for real solutions to the very serious problems we face such a fixing the underwater mortgages, universal government-sponsored health care, etc. Let him know that standing in the face of the Bush administration’s policies must be a fundamental piece of each vote he takes.
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p>I strongly believe that it is our work with each other – organizing, going door-to-door to talk to our neighbors, taking joint action where people can experience power and its effectiveness, and where in our visibility and growing numbers we cannot be ignored – that we shall reclaim our country and our future for justice, peace and sustainability.”
OK, I understand the frustration some feel with the bailout vote. And I realize this will sound harsh, but at the end of any campaign, when election day nears and I see the stakes more clearly, the stress level rises and I end up with little patience for nonsense.
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p>Does it make any sense to spend any time on this, which is single-vote politics (even worse than single-issue politics), especially when it will have zero effect? Is it not better to spend that energy on:
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p>There’s just too much at stake in this election to waste time and energy on something like this.