Dear Mr. President

I’m going to be honest right up front. I didn’t vote for you, but you are my President none the less. Like anyone running for office you made many promises. The one that I’m currently confused over is the promise that your Presidency will be transparent. I see the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 being raced through the Congress at speeds unheard of and I wonder if everything about this bill is out in the open. Then I hear different things that are in the bill being removed when the public is outraged. Ok, I get that the country is in a dangerous economic time. My business is in the construction field and I started to experience the recession within in a month of its inception (Recession starts in December 2007 and I spent the first half of January 2008 with NO work). I want the system fixed but I don’t want it destroyed in the process. Then this bill comes out of conference and is rushed to the floor for a vote less than 24 hours after its text is released to the members of Congress and the public (me). I hear that it has over 1,000 pages and realize that that would take me around 3 weeks to read (I average around 40 books per year) and I’m wondering how this would qualify as transparent. I can’t imagine having 1,000 page plus bill that no one who voted for it had read it. That makes me think that our Congress is acting like lemmings. My Senators and Congress members are responsible to me and my fellow’s here in Washington State to act with their hearts and their minds. They can’t possibly think intelligently about a bill they haven’t read.
Please require them to read and consider this bill closely and thoughtfully. Be the leader who acts different. Be the change we/I want. Please speak the truth about this process and use your position to bring change that comes with thought and reason.

Respectfully

Randy