I wrote to my congressman, John F. Tierney to ask him to vote against the bailout. Not only did he do so, but he wrote me back and has earned my respect. I thought I would share his reply to me and my response to him. Here is his considered response to my request on him website to vote against the bailout:

----- Original Message ----
From: Congressman John F. Tierney
To: fishdan@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 7:17:34 PM
Subject: A Message From Congressman Tierney



September 29, 2008

Mr. Daniel Fishman

Beverly, MA 01915

Dear Mr. Fishman:

Without getting into the fine details, I thought I would let you know that I voted against the so-called Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R. 3997) when it was brought to the House floor earlier today. There were compromises made in this version of the bill, ostensibly to gain bipartisan support. Unfortunately, such compromises were made at the expense of key priorities -- investment in helping homeowners, protections to ensure that the taxpayer will not have to absorb the full cost, and incentives to get the economy back on track.

This bill can be improved, and a different approach can be taken so that foregoing issues can be appropriately addressed.

As of this writing, it is expected that Congress will revisit this matter before the end of the week. I will keep you updated.

Thank you for weighing in.

Sincerely,

John F. Tierney
Member of Congress

Please feel free to visit my website at http://tierney.house.gov/ to learn more about my legislative initiatives.

And here is my open response to him:


Dear Sir:

Thank you for your email, and I would like to take this opportunity to applaud you as a man of principle.

I am one of those who has recently grown weary with partisan bickering I have recently felt that a class of professional politicians has usurped the rights of the people to govern themselves. Yet you have restored my feelings that the people ARE being represented. When the Speaker, the President, Congressman Frank and others ally themselves to push something through and congressmen such as yourself vote their conscience, fulfilling the wishes of the people, it restores my faith in representative democracy.

While you and I have differed on many votes, in the future I will know that you are first and foremost voting with the consideration that befits a representative of the people. When we differ, I will reconsider my position, and where our positions cannot be reconciled, I will be assuaged in knowing that men of good conscience do differ in opinions, and you have voted as you honestly saw fit.

Thank you for your service to the 6th District. I have included our brief correspondence on my blog http://www.fishdan.com

Daniel Fishman

Pretty cool eh? My only complaint is that even though he responded via email, I had to use the web-form to get back to him. Some of you may be shocked that I, a fervent supporter of Ron Paul, could be so happy with my democratic congressman. The truth of the matter is -- I don't have a problem with party at all, so long as elected officials are doing what they think is right, instead of blindly following the party line. Case in point, Joe Lieberman. The guy believes something. We should all be so lucky as to have persons of principle in office.

Well, I guess I am.