An open letter to the US Government

kw: politics

Dear Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, and Members of the Senate and House of Representatives,

Please consider yourselves lame ducks, one and all. Your chances for re-election in 2012 are now effectively nil no matter what you do in the coming two weeks. You have become free agents, beholden to nobody.

If you drive this country into default by failing to pass an increase in the debt ceiling, the resulting economic troubles will make you wish you'd never held office. You will have no chance of winning re-election because each one of you will be blamed, and rightly so.

If you reach an "agreement" that raises taxes on anybody, that will anger a sufficient number of voters to ensure that you are voted out of office next time 'round.

If the "agreement" focuses instead on cost-cutting, and citizens at or near retirement age—in other words, the most consistent voters—feel their future is threatened, we will vote for anybody rather than the incumbents.

I don't expect every one of you to have common sense, but I think most of you know in your hearts that a little of both is required. Now is the time to do what is genuinely best for the United States of America, "the greatest good for the greatest number." Remember, it takes one or two business cycles for even the best economic plan to take hold, and by then, all of you will be out of office. So forget your re-election. Make your decisions for the best the U.S.A. can be, and stick to it.

We may even forgive you for it.

A voter