We the people have spoken, for now, and we don’t want a bailout. The most likely plan of attack for Congress is to try it again by revising the bill and doing everything they can to talk their colleagues into supporting it. That still leaves all of us, the 300 Million out there, waiting to be convinced.

I have a few suggestions on how we might move forward.

First and foremost, instead of talking about the amazing reforms and “change” that will be brought to a new administration and Congress, how about we get started now? Congress sent a delightful message to the administration today that consisted of two words, the second of which was “you.” I like this new attitude and it leaves us all wondering, why wait to make change?

First a little house keeping. How about Congress skip the planned break and work through October. It would seem that in this time of financial chaos the “Give us 700 billion dollars, we will get to the regulation part later after we take a long vacation (oh yeah those crazy holidays and maybe that inauguration party too) just isn’t cutting it with us taxpayers. We elected a Congress already, we don’t feel we should have to wait for the next one to be sworn in just to get started.

So, yes, it may be inconvenient but if lawmakers could not only stick it out and start discussing new regulation guidelines and figure out this whole mortgage mess now rather than later, we might be inclined to put some trust in them. Also a nice sign that they care would be to work an actual forty hour work week across five days. I may be asking too much with that one, but I hope they consider!

To summarize, a bailout bill with a clear indication that actual reforms that will prevent this from happening again, is coming soon, along with the understanding that Congress will actually be working for the rest of the year and not just slacking, would probably help this out a whole lot.

Next up, we are being asked to make some mighty big sacrifices, it would be nice if Congress did the same. So yes, after years of voting to give themselves pay raises, perhaps it is time for our elected officials to start tightening their own belts by capping their pay for awhile. Something along the lines of passing legislation saying “No member of Congress will receive a pay increase in the next three years” would be a humble start. Five or ten would probably be better.

I would love to declare to my boss that I deserve a raise and then hand him a figure, but I can’t and they shouldn’t be allowed to either.

While they are at it, it is time to cut cut down on staff. I hate to see people lose their jobs, but the government payroll includes quite a few people I imagine we could all live without. Sure some high profile members of Congress might balk at the idea of learning how to email themselves and yes it might make researching for all those talk show appearances a little more difficult, but I think we would all appreciate the gesture of getting rid of the bloat in Congress and keeping so many offices opened and staffed just might be a little much.

I know, I know, they will actually have to READ the legislation before voting on it instead of asking a 21 year old to summarize. Sorry, but life is hard.

Side note, as nice as it is that Congress people use their time to write books that garner them lots of money while receiving their paychecks from us, maybe they could take the time they spend writing self aggrandizing memoirs to instead write some legislation and regulations. Just an extra thought, this isn’t a deal breaker.

Does Congress want to really dazzle us? How about cutting some of those “wasteful” programs now. Obama and McCain both pointed to them as places to save money during the debates. In fact, just about everyone running everywhere says they plan on cutting “wasteful spending”. Every year we spend more. See why we are unhappy?

Why wait until January? I am sure every member of Congress knows a program or two that could use some trimming. Lets get started on saving the taxpayer some cash right here and now and working to balance the budget we have before we add an extra $700 Billion to it.

Finally lets talk lobbyists. It is nice that everyone hates lobbyists lately. It is not so nice that those same politicians who yell the loudest about them seem to reap the biggest rewards. Along with the bailout, lets get some real legislation going to reform Washington. Not this “You can eat standing up and only with a spoon” nonsense.

Lobbying and ideological games got us into this mess. When the guy who oversees taxation doesn’t pay his taxes on homes that he received sweet heart mortgages and rent deals on, the system is broken and no $700 Billion bailout is going to fix it. That is just going to make it worse.

Somehow Congress became like college. We all sent these Representatives there like a parent sending their child away to school. We thought they were being productive. Instead they were attending drunken orgies, sitting out on the quad all day and not showing up for their Chem labs. Well, its kind of like that, only a little different.

Lets just say, we all believe Congress is useless and they give us ample reason to continue believing.

If Congress REALLY wants to bail these people out I think I speak for many when I say, we really want something in return. Financial stability isn’t good enough either, we all know where this is going. In six months it will be the airlines, Congress already slipped in an auto bailout over the weekend when we were not looking. Financial stability cannot be guaranteed and it never lasts.

The opposition to the bailout is as much principal as it is the American peoples reaction to the dirty bottom feeding scum that has become the American Congress and for some the Presidency. We trust less in Washington than we do in Wall Street. We blame Washington for this mess, as much as we do Wall Street and this package is the epitome of their great failures and our misplaced trust.

In short, Congress needs to do better. It needs to show the American people it has a plan other than “here is a bunch of money, can we go home now?”

Without that, frankly, many would rather see the system collapse and start anew, to not reward the many people who spent their time ruining our lives and polluting our system of governance. That isn’t just the “fat cats” on Wall Street but also the mindless mass in D.C.

Those running our government don’t understand that it isn’t confidence in Wall Street we need, but confidence in government itself. Somehow, they just don’t get it and tragically I fear they never will.