But Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich keeps arguing that Congress should slow down and develop a responsible approach to the narrow questions raised by Wall Street's financial crisis and the broader question of economic instability on Main Street.
Most members of Congress want to get out of Washington and back to campaigning.
Kucinich is not afraid of staying in Washington and working.
Though the congressman faces a serious challenge this fall -- and a regular battering from his hometown newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer -- he is right about staying in Washington, both from a policy standpoint and from a political standpoint.
Ultimately, Kucinich's determination to stay focused on the economic fundamentals is likely to assure his reelection.
Why? Because voters really are concerned about the disconnect in Washington, where most politicians seem to be more wrapped up with the work of bailing out banks and getting out of town than with the dramatic new issues raised by unsettling unemployment numbers.
Kucinich "gets it."
That was clear in the speech he delivered during Friday morning's House debate on the curent version of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's Wall Street bailout bill:
We have come a great distance in seventy-five years; from the New Deal to the Raw Deal, from having nothing to fear but fear itself, to being afraid of everything. We traded democracy's warm heart containing the ideals of faith, fairness and frugality, for the greedy, cold calculations of the Dow Jones ticker. The New Deal saved free market capitalism with jobs and regulation; now both sink in the swamp of speculation, manipulation and capitulation.
The Golden Rule of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is submerged by the rule of gold, "do unto others before they do unto you."
Some people will ask of this Congress, what were we thinking? Why did we give $700 billion bailout to Wall Street without fixing what caused the problem in the first place? Why did we rig the free markets for security fraudsters? Why didn't we explore alternatives to let Wall Street solve its own problems? Why didn't we have money save millions of homeowners, create millions of jobs, and a green economy? Why didn't we stop the speculators? Why wasn't there accountability? Why didn't we take time to make an intelligent decision?
Why? Why? Why?
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