Mike Rogers has got to go

By Kevyn Bowling

After Congress passed the bailout plan, I went to C-SPAN’s website and looked at the roll call. When I saw Republican Mike Rogers, our representative in Dist. 3, had voted in favor of the bailout, I decided to cast my vote for Democrat Josh Segall on Nov. 4. I also decided to write a column that would tell why Rogers needs to go back to Saks.

As I looked up his voting record, I discovered that his viewpoints are in line with the majority of the people in this area. He’s anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, a protector of the right to bear arms, and a man who is alright with religion and government being intertwined.

But too often people only pay attention to the social issues that should be dealt with by the states and not the federal government. When Rogers voted for the bailout, he became a socialist. He didn’t become a supporter of the kind of socialism where everyone shares everything and we all paint flowers on our bodies that seduces many college students; I believe he supported the kind of socialism that provides for private gains and losses that are public.

People seem to have forgotten that some businesses, like ones that apparently have Stupidity as their main strategy, will fail in the free market. By bailing them out, we have locked in a class system where the rich will always be rich, no matter how much they screw up, and the poor will always be poor because performance won’t matter.

Some people are complaining about their 401ks losing so much value. Stocks are a gamble. If you didn’t want to risk losing money, you should have told your company to put your money in Certificates of Deposit. Backing the bailout because you’re worried about your 401K is selling your grandchildren into governmental slavery for your 10-15 years of retirement.

However, the biggest beef I have with Rogers over the bailout is not that it is socialist -- and he supported it -- but rather that the majority of his constituents opposed it, yet he still voted for it.

Dist. 3 voters put Rogers in Washington. The majority of the time most people don’t bother him, letting him do what he wants. He receives an overwhelming response against this one bill, yet he still votes for it. Him doing this is like slapping us all in the face and screaming, “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!”

At first I was furious with Rogers; now I believe he really thought he was doing what was best. But in the end, it still doesn’t change the fact that he went against our wishes. Because of this, he has to go.