This is worthy of a bookmark. This reply allegedly voiced to Davy Crockett from a voter should be sent to all our representatives:

quote:

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....."Yes I know you, I voted for you once before, I shall not vote for you again. You gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not the capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. The papers from Washington say you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by fire in Georgetown. It is not the amount that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legtimate purposes. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means.

What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you can see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off. You will easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members can give as much as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had burned in this country as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. The Congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt applauded you for relieving them from necessity of giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond that is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution. So you see Colonel you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned and you see that I cannot vote for you."

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Lockjaw, thanks for that. It turns out that Davy Crockett apologized to the voter who wrote this eloquent, and correct, criticism. Modern members of congress sure have come a long way haven't they!