Speak Out

Re "Calhoun County congressman walks a line between moderation and partisanship" (News article, July 13):

Star Editor at Large John Fleming's story on Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, is a piece of truly poor journalism that should never have seen the light of day, let alone the front page.

The opening thesis that Rogers is a "moderate" who "goes toward the middle ground" is laughable. The truth is that Rogers is anything but a moderate in the middle ground.

Rogers is one of the most loyal lackeys of the Bush administration in Congress. He always tows the line of conservative Republicanism, time and again voting against the interests of the average citizens of the 3rd Congressional District.

In fact, Fleming goes on to disprove his own initial assertion by providing the chart of interest-group ratings that shows Rogers to be virtually perfect in the eyes of right-wing PACs while near dead among progressive causes. Fleming's "evidence" of moderation is, again, ridiculous.

A one-minute speech on the floor of the House does not a moderate make. Neither does getting government contracts for one's district. In fact, there is no evidence whatsoever that Rogers has actually done anything to stand up against the Bush administration or his Republican congressional handlers. Words do not count. Actions do.

The truth about Rogers is that he is now and has always been an integral part of the Bush machine in Washington. Given a rising mountain of evidence, it is now widely seen that the Bush-Cheney-Rove administration is one of the worst, if not the very worst, in American history (a recent bill in Congress listed 35 impeachable offenses). Seventy-one percent of the American people now disapprove of this president and are counting the days until he leaves the White House. It will be many years before America recovers from the tragedy of the last seven-plus years.

Mike Rogers is a millionaire lawyer and investor who stands for the Chamber of Commerce crowd, home contractors, lawyers, bankers, wealthy businessmen and their self-serving allies. This is his constituency. These are the people he visits when he returns home, the people who contribute to his campaign chests, the people he serves when he consistently votes against his own oppressed and powerless constituents such as the Lilly Ledbetters who deserve equal pay for equal work or the thousands children in Alabama who go every day without medical coverage.

When it comes time to stand up for the everyday people of our region, Rogers sits down. It's time to send both Bush and Rogers packing.

Two hundred and nineteen years ago, the common people of Paris arose, overthrew another incompetent and elitist regime and took control of their own lives. In a few months, we can do the same thing, and do it peacefully and simply, by going to the ballot box and electing the friend of the average citizen, Josh Segall, to the House of Representatives.

Ron Caldwell lives in Jacksonville.