[ Note: This references and expands on my previous posts . . . Trust No Incumbent, Pledges: Candidate Contracts, How Pledges Can Work, and The October Surprise. ]
This pledge should be presented to any congressman running for re-election this November, who recently voted for what has been termed the Ryan budget. A vote in favor of this horrifying piece of legislation amounts to a war cry for more military aggression and an attack on social security as we now know it. It’s a sure sign that this member of Congress is either clinically insane, morally bankrupt, or in bed with the imperious elite who want to build even bigger fortified castles for themselves and ultimately turn all of the rest of us into their indentured servants. It’s vile! It is class warfare at its worst: Enrich the rich. Bomb the world. Screw the 99%.
Here are the congressman who voted for the Ryan budget on May 10, 2012:
Adams (R, FL), Aderholt (R, AL), Akin (R, MO), Alexander (R, LA), Amash (R, MI), Amodei (R, NV), Bachmann (R, MN), Barletta (R, PA), Bartlett (R, MD), Barton (R, TX), Bass (R, NH), Benishek (R, MI), Berg (R, ND), Biggert (R, IL), Bilbray (R, CA), Bilirakis (R, FL), Bishop (R, UT), Black (R, TN), Blackburn (R, TN), Bonner (R, AL), Bono Mack (R, CA), Boustany (R, LA), Brady (R, TX), Brooks (R, AL), Buchanan (R, FL), Bucshon (R, IN), Buerkle (R, NY), Burton (R, IN), Calvert (R, CA), Camp (R, MI), Campbell (R, CA), Canseco (R, TX), Cantor (R, VA), Capito (R, WV), Carter (R, TX), Cassidy (R, LA), Chabot (R, OH), Chaffetz (R, UT), Coble (R, NC), Coffman (R, CO), Cole (R, OK), Conaway (R, TX), Cravaack (R, MN), Crawford (R, AR), Crenshaw (R, FL), Culberson (R, TX), Davis (R, KY), Denham (R, CA), Dent (R, PA), DesJarlais (R, TN), Diaz-Balart (R, FL), Dold (R, IL), Dreier (R, CA), Duffy (R, WI), Duncan (R, SC), Duncan (R, TN), Ellmers (R, NC), Emerson (R, MO), Farenthold (R, TX), Fincher (R, TN), Fitzpatrick (R, PA), Flake (R, AZ), Fleischmann (R, TN), Fleming (R, LA), Flores (R, TX), Forbes (R, VA), Fortenberry (R, NE), Foxx (R, NC), Franks (R, AZ), Frelinghuysen (R, NJ), Gallegly (R, CA), Gardner (R, CO), Garrett (R, NJ), Gerlach (R, PA), Gibbs (R, OH), Gibson (R, NY), Gingrey (R, GA), Gohmert (R, TX), Goodlatte (R, VA), Gosar (R, AZ), Gowdy (R, SC), Granger (R, TX), Graves (R, GA), Graves (R, MO), Griffin (R, AR), Griffith (R, VA), Grimm (R, NY), Guinta (R, NH), Guthrie (R, KY), Hall (R, TX), Hanna (R, NY), Harper (R, MS), Harris (R, MD), Hartzler (R, MO), Hastings (R, WA), Hayworth (R, NY), Heck (R, NV), Hensarling (R, TX), Herger (R, CA), Herrera Beutler (R, WA), Huelskamp (R, KS), Huizenga (R, MI), Hultgren (R, IL), Hunter (R, CA), Hurt (R, VA), Issa (R, CA), Jenkins (R, KS), Johnson (R, IL), Johnson (R, OH), Johnson (R, TX), Jones (R, NC), Jordan (R, OH), Kelly (R, PA), King (R, IA), King (R, NY), Kingston (R, GA), Kinzinger (R, IL), Kline (R, MN), Labrador (R, ID), Lamborn (R, CO), Lance (R, NJ), Landry (R, LA), Lankford (R, OK), Latham (R, IA), LaTourette (R, OH), Latta (R, OH), Lewis (R, CA), LoBiondo (R, NJ), Long (R, MO), Lucas (R, OK), Luetkemeyer (R, MO), Lummis (R, WY), Lungren (R, CA), Manzullo (R, IL), Marchant (R, TX), Marino (R, PA), McCarthy (R, CA), McCaul (R, TX), McClintock (R, CA), McCotter (R, MI), McHenry (R, NC), McKeon (R, CA), McKinley (R, WV), McMorris Rodgers (R, WA), Meehan (R, PA), Mica (R, FL), Miller (R, FL), Miller (R, MI), Miller (R, CA), Mulvaney (R, SC), Murphy (R, PA), Myrick (R, NC), Neugebauer (R, TX), Nugent (R, FL), Nunes (R, CA), Nunnelee (R, MS), Olson (R, TX), Palazzo (R, MS), Paulsen (R, MN), Pearce (R, NM), Pence (R, IN), Petri (R, WI), Pitts (R, PA), Platts (R, PA), Poe (R, TX), Pompeo (R, KS), Posey (R, FL), Price (R, GA), Quayle (R, AZ), Reed (R, NY), Rehberg (R, MT), Reichert (R, WA), Renacci (R, OH), Ribble (R, WI), Rigell (R, VA), Rivera (R, FL), Roby (R, AL), Roe (R, TN), Rogers (R, AL), Rogers (R, KY), Rogers (R, MI), Rohrabacher (R, CA), Rokita (R, IN), Rooney (R, FL), Roskam (R, IL), Ros-Lehtinen (R, FL), Ross (R, FL), Royce (R, CA), Runyan (R, NJ), Ryan (R, WI), Scalise (R, LA), Schilling (R, IL), Schmidt (R, OH), Schock (R, IL), Schweikert (R, AZ), Scott (R, SC), Scott (R, GA), Sensenbrenner (R, WI), Sessions (R, TX), Shimkus (R, IL), Shuler (D, NC), Shuster (R, PA), Simpson (R, ID), Smith (R, NE), Smith (R, NJ), Smith (R, TX), Southerland (R, FL), Stearns (R, FL), Stivers (R, OH), Sullivan (R, OK), Terry (R, NE), Thompson (R, PA), Thornberry (R, TX), Tiberi (R, OH), Tipton (R, CO), Turner (R, NY), Turner (R, OH), Upton (R, MI), Walberg (R, MI), Walden (R, OR), Walsh (R, IL), Webster (R, FL), West (R, FL), Westmoreland (R, GA), Whitfield (R, KY), Wilson (R, SC), Wittman (R, VA), Wolf (R, VA), Womack (R, AR), Woodall (R, GA), Yoder (R, KS), Young (R, FL), Young (R, IN).
On to the business of confronting these notorious individuals with this pledge.
Recall now that an impressive number of voter signatures will have been collected on a petition in favor of leaving social security alone.
Further recall that another candidate has signed the pledge, either the incumbent’s major-party opponent, a minor-party opponent, or an independent candidate.
It’s the first week of October. Preferably in a highly public forum __ town hall meeting, campaign stump speech, photo-op, etc. __ we present the candidate the opportunity to sign the pledge . . .
Dear Mr. [name of incumbent congressman]:
Find attached copies of petitions bearing the signatures of [number] registered voters in your district who have expressed their clear intentions on social security. This declaration of voter intent reads as follows:
I am a registered voter and will only vote for a candidate for public office who will leave social security alone. If a candidate guarantees unequivocally to fight for keeping social security as it currently stands, I will give that candidate my unqualified support.
The voting public both nationally and here in your congressional district has expressed its wishes on social security loud and clear. It wants it completely off the table in upcoming configurations of the national budget!
We also believe it is fair and proper to inform you that another candidate who is seeking this same office has already signed a commitment in the form of a pledge __ a duplicate of the document we are offering you here today __ to leave social security as it now stands.
We respectfully request that you sign the following pledge so that we, your constituents should you are returned to your seat as our senator in the upcoming election, can invest our full confidence in your willingness and ability to perform the duties of that office.
I, [candidate name], if re-elected to my seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, hereby commit to co-sponsor and vote in favor of legislation to establish a 10-year moratorium on any reductions to social security benefits, on increasing the eligibility age, or making any other alteration in the program as it is now configured such as might negatively impact eligible recipients of such benefits. I will not resist, discourage, or in any manner put up an impediment to, and in fact will publicly and on the floor of Congress actively promote any and all legislation in support of this measure. If no other legislator comes forth to offer such a moratorium, I will create and introduce by my own initiative, within 90 days of taking office, such a legislative act.
I further understand and fully agree to the following: If I violate the above-stated terms of this pledge, I will tender on the 91st day after taking an oath of office for my legislative seat, my full and unqualified resignation from this elected position. Moreover, within one year of my resignation, I will refund all contributions made from individual donors in support of my candidacy for this office.
This entire pledge constitutes a legally binding contract between myself and that class of citizens who will be my constituents, should I win the upcoming election. In the event that I fail to perform any of the above-required actions, redress may be sought by those same citizens in the form of a class-action suit in a civil court of law, and I will be liable for a minimum of $10,000,000 damages for breach of contract. If I fail to resign from office due to my failure to fulfill the other requirements of this contract, I may be liable for an additional class-action settlement in the amount of $50,000,000. No portion of these specified settlements may be paid from campaign donations, PACs or SuperPACs.
I take this pledge voluntarily and with full appreciation of my responsibility to those citizens I will be representing in my capacity as elected representative from [name of state]. I accept the terms of this pledge with a thorough and lucid understanding of its requirements and consequences.
Signed: _____________________________ Date: __________________
Regardless of how pernicious some of these legislators have been in the past, I don’t personally harbor any hatred for them. I do believe that we all reap what we sow.
Let them either believe in the America most of us believe in or . . .
. . . impale themselves on their own treachery.
