Down Home in the District

For the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to travel around the 6th Congressional District of Alabama and talk to working people and small business owners about all the things going on in Washington, D. C. As is usually the case, the pain and suffering of people is more real when you view it “in person” rather than through statistics or news reports. Businesses that have been successful for years have failed or are on the verge of failure. A truck repair company owner, who has hopes of passing her business to the next generation, is now behind on her taxes and spending her personal savings just to meet payroll. The owner of a hardware store is selling other property just to keep the doors open. I met James, a 60 year old unemployed man, with absolutely no hope of finding a permanent job and fighting with his insurance company to keep his COBRA insurance coverage. These are just a few examples of hundreds of people I met who represent the reality of thousands of others who are suffering in our current economic disaster.

Our politicians speak of recovery and an end to our recession (or depression), but few of them will acknowledge a painful truth. Even though at a “macro level” things may improve, these individual’s hopes of a secure financial future has been destroyed, and most likely, never to be recovered. For these people their most important mission left is to work to secure some resemblance of American hope, as they experienced it, for their children and grandchildren.

A part of that mission is to properly identify those who are really responsible. Regardless of all the finger pointing and demonizing that has been happening for the last few months, few can debate that the root cause of the finance disaster was the lending of money to the unqualified borrowers for home loans. I know this is controversial and hard to admit. Certainly everyone who desires to own a home should have that opportunity. However, we can’t ignore one of the basic rules that is at the foundation of our economy. This fact: In order to loan money you must have the belief (not the hope), that the borrower can afford to repay the loan. Otherwise the borrower must get someone to co-sign with them. There were many who were participants in this fiasco, but only the federal politicians changed the fundamental credit guidelines. Thus by 1999, the die was cast and all the pieces in place for this disaster to happen. This was a bipartisan disaster, with few critics. Of course, when a voice cried out in the wilderness, warning of the dangers to come, they were quickly discredited as backward or worse, unkind to the poor.

Make no mistake; our politicians made a conscious decision to make these loans possible. Furthermore, they were well aware of the impending crisis years before the general public knew it. So why did they fail to fix it in 2002 or the years after? Why did they not warn the public of this impending disaster? I think the answer is that most Washington politicians serve special interest groups, their political party, or themselves. Other possibilities are cowardice and ignorance.

Regardless of motives of Congress, the only conclusion is that most of our politicians in Washington are conflicted. They are elected to serve their constituents and they “talk that game” pretty well. However, once again, their actions have failed us.

The Constitution begins with “We the people”, and the working people and small business owners of the 6th Congressional District of Alabama know that phrase isn’t there by accident. In fact, never before have so many of us felt a kinship with our founding fathers. Our consolation lies in the belief that the strength and will of responsible Americans will prevail. Reasonable people are tired of the “haters” on both fringes. Those who have been busy making a living and raising families are getting involved and beginning to challenge the irrational. What is true in Alabama is true in most of the country; the hard-working middle who make this country strong will not continue to be ignored by Washington.

Peace and Progress,

Clinton Bennett