Just wanted to say today that I love my representative, David Price (NC 4th, the dark blue island in a mostly red state). Yesterday, he joined David Obey, Barney Franks, and Tom Allen in unveiling a major reform proposal. You can read about it at Price's website:
Cleaning (the) House, or go to
Think Progress to read/view an interview with the "Reform Four" (my new nickname -- does it sound superheroish enough?)
My favorite Price quote from the interview:
It certainly isn't a matter of the two parties being equally culpable here. The Democrats have pushed every step of the way for ... a process that is truly bipartisan with an equal division of members in authority on that ethics committee and Republicans have resisted every step of the way. It's a good thing that the press is finally paying some attention to this and I hope the result will be, if nothing else, to shame them into doing their job.
P.S. I'm not trying to slight Obey, Franks, and Allen. It's just nice sometimes to be able to remind the country that we do have Dems in NC, too. And I do really like Price -- even when I've disagreed with him, I have always respected his commitment and integrity.
After the invasion of Afghanistan, which he supported along with the rest of the House, he came to the Chapel Hill Friends (Quaker) Meeting to explain his position. Not exactly an easy audience to address, especially when even the kids started asking difficult questions (on several levels) about the nature of violence and power and the use of force, etc... . Price was patient, thoughtful, articulate -- it's one of the few encounters I've had with a national politician where it felt like there was a
person in the room rather than just a "personality."
Anyway, since I spend so much of my time hissing and spitting about the endemic malfeasance that pretends to be our national government, I thought it important to take a moment to acknowledge and thank one puplic servant that I still respect.