Oliver North's article "Giving Thanks" reminded me of the email I sent to our president and the 2 senators from AZ.

Yesterday I sent the following email to President Obama, Senator John McCain, and Senator John Kyl.

My Dear Mr. President and Arizona Senators:

My wife and I wish each of you a very happy Thanksgiving!

We have a great deal for which to be thankful.  However, we are not thankful for the current behavior of our government.  We were promised openness and transparency instead we observe secrecy in significant government affairs.  We were promised higher ethical standards instead we observe an erosion of ethics at the national level.  We were promised bipartisanship instead we observe all ideas other than from extreme left wing liberal ideology are shut out of the discussions.  We were promised that taxes would not be raised below a certain earnings level instead we observe unchecked government spending along with proposed additional spending that will demand increased taxes.  We were promised hope and change instead all we observe is illogical change that leaves us hopeless.  We were promised a fix for the health care problems instead we observe the significant areas of tort reform, portability, and the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines ignored.  Instead the health insurance proposals have not allowed any input and are only a complete power grab by Congress.  We were promised immigration reform instead we observe the only reforms are to give amnesty to illegal immigrants without attempting to fix the system.  We were promised input would be sought from all quarters instead we observe those who dare to propose anything different from any extreme liberal left ideology are being marginalized and ridiculed.

We observe we have been lied to, not been listened to.  Instead we are being belittled, marginalized, and disparaged.  We observe we are being treated as pawns in a chess game.  We are far from thankful for all of this.  As elected leaders in our national government we call on you to stop the lying and begin to listen to us and to the elected officials who have other real solutions and approaches.

We want to be thankful for our government.  However, government must be open with us, listen to our concerns, and stop the grab for power and control.  We are hurtling away from being the “land of the free and the home of the brave” to being the land of the oppressed and the home of the acquiescent.

There were many other examples I could have provided that demonstrate the differences between what we have been promised by most of our elected officials and what we have observed by their legislative actions.

These examples demonstrate that we need to clean house and do it very, very soon.