Why I will abstain

October 21, 2008

Dear Congressman:

Greetings and best wishes! Included in this letter is my “Voter Identification Card” rendered useless. I have decided to abstain from voting in these elections.

I regret not being able to vote for you. I do have personal and professional reasons which have led me to this decision but Republican Party support of the recent “bail out” regarding the mortgage financial crisis at the expense of the American taxpayer is perhaps the reason that tipped me over but not the only one. This act by Congress, the same Congress responsible for the mess to begin with goes against what America and the Founding Fathers always stood for: free enterprise, republican form of government of the represented, personal responsibility to succeed as well as to fail, and other values betrayed by this decision.

As someone who monitors foreign affairs I am aware of the real enemies this country faces abroad. These are enemies that for the longest time dream of seeing “the last great hope of humanity” collapse under its own weight of over bloated complacency. They dream of the day when they may see the end of our “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. They think that will make their countries prosperous. And for that purpose they have already made great inroads in our society, even with active agents in our midst. Yet, some of our greatest enemies are ourselves and from within the ranks of our citizenry; enemies of the very democratic process, groups and organizations which are, as I write, subverting the electoral process. And where is the Republican Party demanding a halt and investigation of this subversion? Where is the Republican Party demanding an investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the mortgage crisis? That the most technologically advanced country in the world cannot have a secure elections process is a real scandal.

It has been very disappointing to see how the Republican Party has abandoned those of us who have supported the ideals of small government, community involvement, self-reliance, minimum taxation and protection of our borders. I have personally made no small sacrifices defending and promoting those ideals, especially in the Hispanic community, only to be left “hanging drying in the wind” and embarrassed. As a former supporter of the Democrat Party I have seen what happens when a party abandons its principles for just “getting along”. Eventually such party becomes the parceled realm from where demagogues make hay.

Just right after 9/11 I lost my career as an airline pilot due to the collapse in employment and hiring by the airlines. The airlines received also a “bail out” then. Again, we the taxpayers will be paying for years for another decision by Congress. Not the one of the bail out itself alone, but what led to 9/11; the slacking of supervision of the security in airports due to lobbying in favor of the airlines against stronger security measures. These and other bail outs we will be paying for the rest of our lives and into the lives of our children. And yet, no one offered me a “bail out” for the student loans I still have to pay for my aviation and other professional training and education. Not even an offer to retrain into another field.

I regret that my decision will result in denying your candidacy my vote for I do hold you in high esteem as you have always been kind and generous toward me with your time, and personally I know you are one of those which deserves to be called an honest politician.

But for the time being and until things change and, among other things, my vote is protected, I feel that I cannot morally participate in such process that ignores the represented. Nor can I lend support to any political party that does the same.

Best wishes,

José A. Amorós