Letter to Senator Cantwell

Dear Senator Cantwell--

I'm writing to thank you for taking a bold stand on the recent passage of the Defense appropriations bill. It highlights how broken our Congressional appropriations process is. Your colleague Adam Smith was on KUOW this morning talking about this process, and how appropriations are approved without anyone knowing what is actually being approved.

I invite you to take this opportunity to further your courageous stand against special interests and federal handouts to large corporations. I'd like to know what steps you are considering such that Congress can reclaim control over the budget from the military, the White House, special interests, and large corporations.

Democrats must send a bold, concise, and coherent message to voters that they are acting to protect them from special interests and federal largesse to large corporations. This means keeping our own house tidy as well. I'm sure there is a lot of incentive on your part to lobby for whatever pork Washington state is getting via military projects going to Boeing. But ultimately, funding for failed projects like Future Combat Systems amount to backdoor welfare -- if we are only able to create jobs via porky military projects, it means we need to fix the real problem -- job creation in a competitive market.

Your work on environmental issues shows that not only do you care about the environment, but that you see the business potential of green energy. It is inevitable that the entire country will need to go green if the human race is to avoid extinction. Therefore, we ought to be at the forefront of all the business to be done providing the country with expertise, manufacturing, technology, etc. Maybe I am just advocating for pork that is more beneficial to tax payers, delivering higher value than something so odious as Future Combat Systems.

I can not resist the temptation to mention that it is shameful that FCS is going to cost taxpayers upwards of $1 trillion dollars, while failing to deliver results. Actually, the Pentagon is happy to admit that FCS is a flop, but it somehow keeps getting more funding. Meanwhile, troops in Iraq are still missing adequate armor, vehicles are getting junked from heavy use, recruitment is down, etc.

Please continue to lead the charge. It is embarrassing and somewhat outrageous that Democrats have not been able to wage an effective attack against the endless litany of egregious Republican behavior, from stealing (Abramoff), lying (WMD), spying, bribing, gerrymandering, etc. Please don't pull a Hillary and shoot for the middle of the road. Please tell it like it is.

Thanks
Steve Shapero