October 3, 2007
by Mary MacElveen

Most likely you thought the subject title of this column would be one of self-pity, but that is not the case.  As a writer, I get my fair share of hate mail as well as supportive mail.  But, the ones I tend to pay attention to are the ones who feel lost, confused, forgotten and down right depressed.  Those are the ones that I do pay attention to.  They are the ones that make all the hate mail seem small in comparison.

As a result of my many columns devoted to the Iraq War, this email was sent to me, "My 8 year old son has become very upset by war after recently grasping the concept and realizing it is real.  He wants to do something to help the children of the War in Iraq.  I have searched the internet but cannot find any information on what he could go about doing (with my assistance) to feel that he is contributing."

She goes onto write, "I happened upon your story and thought you may have some resources.  Could you point me in the direction of any organizations?" While I do not know what column she is referring to, this letter hit me and angered me that it was me she was reaching out to instead of our political leaders.  Where are they?  More importantly; why aren't they doing enough to stop this carnage that is killing and maiming Iraqi children?  By the way, I am seeking out this information for her.  If you can assist, it would be appreciated.  Bless this little eight-year-old boy.  At least he has a heart.

Another letter came to me and it reads in part, "What scares me is that we have 15 months of the same old. I never wanted us to go to Iraq but now that we destroyed the country I feel that we owe the citizens water, electricity hospitals but not necessarily our soldier's blood. Clinton lied about oral sex and its okay to be lied into war. When you try to talk to people about the economy, the war, our freedoms it's like they have no clue. It's more important to get a great bargain at Wal-Mart then to think about the fact that we have killed a million innocent citizens or worry about the people who are losing their jobs or homes. It's like I have mine so why care about anyone or anything else." Shouldn't one of our elected officials be the one to answer this one?  These are the voices of America and it sure looks as if no one in Washington is listening.

Now this part of another email really sang to me, "This president is in denial, in la-la land, and only thinking of his time out and into the lecture circuit. He seems totally emotionally detached from everything. He should resign along with Cheney. The whole of Congress seems totally impotent under the wing of this excuse of a president." I couldn't agree more.  If any Congress member is reading this, I get many emails like this one.  Do you?  If you do; what do you write back?  Are you at least listening to ?we the people'?

On of my favorites is an email that came into me regarding the illegal immigration issue.  This man is one of my favorite correspondents.  He writes, "We all know what you are doing and stand behind you 100%." He goes onto say, "Keep up your great work Mary and long live Lou Dobbs!!!" Are the politicians listening when they are trying to sneak certain provisions back in through other bills?

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To touch on this issue (illegal immigration), I was going to write a whole column blasting my governor, Elliot Spitzer since he will allow the issuing of drivers licenses to illegal aliens.  But, decided not to.  Will he care what I think?  No, he will not.  Hey, I only voted for the guy and this move makes me cringe just thinking that I did. I can now understand those who say why bother to vote.

As the person who sent me an email spoke of Lou Dobbs, today, I chose to reach out to him through his show and as many of you know, some emails sent into the show do get read on-air.  Well here is mine, "You must be busting at the seams wishing to blast back at the madness going on within Washington.  I first want to say please get well soon, because ?we the people' do need your voice of reason and logic when faced with the insanity coming from these political elites.  It is because of your logic I am now an independent who is not aligned with anyone party.  You know, Lou ?we the people' would feel we finally had a leader and a voice with you as our president.  Please think about it, Lou. I do not know how much longer ?we the people' can hang on when these politicos are bleeding us dry." For those of you who do not know, Mr. Dobbs has been out due to a tonsillectomy.  He should be back ready to fight when he is fully recovered.  Get better soon, Lou!

While the note to Mr. Dobbs sounds pessimistic, I am sure that there are millions of Americans who are feeling exactly as I am right now as well as my readers.  It seems the only time most of these political elites wish to hear from us is through campaign donations and asking us to volunteer our time.  Should they happen to get elected, it is as if they do not wish to hear from us.

Note to our elected officials in Washington, D.C., 'we the people' told you through our votes in last year's Midterm elections we wanted this war over and yet you continue it.  That is mainly directed at Republicans who are blocking the Democratic majority to end this war sooner rather than later.  All of you are public servants which means you serve us and not the other way around.  Got it? Good!

Well there you have it.  This is but a small sampling of the emails that come into me on a daily basis asking for some form of help and guidance.  Some will just even email me because they feel they have no one to turn to.  In any response given to anyone of my readers, it is never a form letter, but where I try to at least answer them back in some small way.

I do suppose other writers get similar emails sent to them and answer accordingly.  I just wish I had more answers to give my readers, but when I do not see real action coming from Washington, D.C., I too am at a loss.  So, to the politicos in Washington, D.C.; do you think you can get on the ball and get the people's business done?  Is it too much to ask of all of you?  Stop the party shenanigans in which the finger of blame is pointed towards each other and just get it done!

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Mary MacElveen [send her email] is a freelance writer who maintains a blog at http://www.marymacelveen.com. She has been published by many other websites, and has been a guest on the Jay Diamond Radio Show on WRKO in Boston and has also appeared on CNN. She has done numerous web broadcasts for sites such as RadioLeft.com, TVNewsLies.org and FranklySpeakingRadio.com.