An Open Letter to Congress from Your Boss

Part One: The Problem


Dear Senators and Representatives,

I know that you are busy standing still, but I hope that you will take the time to read this and that you thank the staffer who passed it along to you for me. As evidenced in the title, this is the first of several letters you are going to be receiving in the coming days.

I would like to point out that the building that houses the office you are in, the chair that you occupy, the computer that you are reading this on, all belong to me. Your salary, which is already six times greater than mine, and the benefits that are provided to you that you did not want to share with me in the way of health care, and the manicured lawn upon which sits your residence are all courtesy of my largesse. And that of the 300 million stock holders who share that ownership with me.

While there are a number of large issues facing this country at the moment and you having been hired to see to these issues, I would like to point out that you are not dealing at all well with the problem. You see, the issues are not the problem. All of the issues have a solution. The question is, is there one for the problem? I know there is and I believe you do as well.

The problem is, quite frankly, you. None of the issues can be solved as long as you remain the problem. There are, as usual, several factors that define this problem, and I will be addressing those with you in the coming letters. For now, suffice to say that the solutions to both the issues and the problem are quite simple. That is not to say easy as they are not the same things. I have found in my years of experience that it is usually the simplest answer that solves the most problems.

The second step to solving the problem involves campaign finance reform. Due to the misguidance of the Supreme Court and your own rules, the company has been taken over by special interests inside and outside of Washington. The first change to be enacted is self-financed candidates. When a gubernatorial candidate can force others out of the race simply because they have $39 million of their own dollars to open with, it makes the system inherently unfair and corrupted. A candidate cannot donate any more than any other contributor to their own campaign.

Second, cap “war chests” and require all donations be spent on the campaign. Professional sports have salary caps for a reason, and so should you when it comes to campaign dollars. How can you tell an executive at a bailed out company that he must regulate his pay while simultaneously lining your coffers with millions of his company’s dollars? And you cannot create a “foundation” or other vehicle to funnel campaign contributions to or from. No one should need more than $10 million per year, and probably less.

So, we start here at step one: Sit down and talk, shut up and listen, and show us and yourselves a little respect. In short, stop running for re-election and earn the right to keep your jobs. See, if you just do your jobs, you’ll get to keep them. Wasn’t that simple?