Dear President Obama, Senators Grassley and Harkin, and Representatives
Loebsak and Braley:
Now that the election has been decided and each of you will
be serving our nation during the course of the next two years, I want to share
my thoughts on issues that I hope you address. I know these are difficult
issues, and not ones that politicians seem to want to avoid. Nevertheless, I
think these are the issues that are in desperate need of appropriate action:
1. Economic Growth
& Not Austerity as Our National Goal. We need to assure the long-term
fiscal health of our nation, but we need to make sure that we do not torpedo
badly needed economic growth and the restoration of good jobs in our nation.
Going over the fiscal cliff would be among the stupidest decisions that our
nation could make at this time. The main legitimate concern with the deficit comes
from rising healthcare costs, and to the extent that controlling health care
costs demand further attention, that issues should be addressed. We also need
tax laws that benefit more than just the wealthiest Americans. Wealthier
Americans need to accept a tax increase as a part of long-term fiscal
stability. We always need to consider the efficiency of government and the
appropriateness of programs, but slashing government programs at this time the
kind of austerity that we’ve seen failing Britain and Europe and that would likely
prove disastrous here.
2. Campaign Finance
Reform. We need to reform our campaign finance system. Each party and each
candidate and each PAC spends immense amounts of money on campaigns that
usually sully the public discourse and that do not benefit voters. Much more
importantly, each of all of us know that money talks, and that your honorable
intentions notwithstanding, those who pay the piper call the tune. In the
immediate aftermath of Watergate and the corruption of the political process
that we experienced during that era, we had campaign-finance reform that did a
reasonable job of leveling the playing field. That reform has now been hacked
away and no longer provides us with meaningful protection. No billionaire,
liberal or conservative, should be in a position to buy an election. An
immediate change in our campaign finance system is imperative if we maintain the
integrity of our political institutions. I don’t have an easy answer on how to
do this, but this is an issue where Republicans and Democrats should find
common ground if each side acts in the interest of American political
institutions and not with an eye towards short-term advantage for their
respective party.
3. Reasonable Firearms
Regulation. The availability and abuse of firearms in the U.S. is disgraceful.
As a resident of Iowa City over more than 30 years, our prosperous and
generally law-abiding community as seen too much gun violence, and we are
normally a sedate and happy group of people. As I’m now abroad, I am shocked
and ashamed to read of continued gun violence in the U.S.: innocent victims are
mowed down by individuals who’ve have quick and easy access to firearms. I won’t
ask you to repeal the Second Amendment (although I would support repeal and
replace it with something much more understandable and reasonable—I’m not
talking about banning or confiscating firearms.) However, I understand that repealing the Second
Amendment is implausible. Instead, I do urge you to take every reasonable step
to regulate firearms, as we do automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and any other
number of items that could prove lethal. There are reasonable ways to do this,
and both parties should be able to find some common ground as they did in the
past to make some reasonable regulations that protect Americans from the random
violence.
4. Action on Global Climate
Change. Global climate change is no longer an issue that we can pretend
doesn’t exist. The presidential campaign attempted to ignore it, but then came
Sandy. I applaud President Obama for his acknowledgment of the issue in his victory
speech. We must get past the head-in-the-sand approach that we’ve been taking
and begin to think about how we can best address this common threat to
humanity. It’s time for the U.S. to become a global leader again; not a
laggard.
5. Avoid Wars. We
must avoid military adventures as much as possible, acting only when no other
option exists and when we are compelled to act by a very clear definition of
our national interest (and not any other nation’s). This does not deny the
importance of our allies; rather, if we act foolishly and continue to diminish our
national resources on wasted wars we do no one any favors except those who
would benefit by a diminishment of our capabilities.
Gentlemen, thank you for your continued service. I wish you
the strength and courage that addressing these issues require. Thank you for
your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Stephen N. Greenleaf
Permanent address: 345 Magowan Ave., Iowa City, IA 52246
Temporary address: 4 Bhawani Singh Lane, Jaipur, Rajasthan,
India 300005
Email: Greenleaf.stephen@gmail.com
