Sleeplessness can sometimes be beneficial. Last night I stared at the ceiling pondering myriad possibilities of what exactly kept me awake.

I figured it out.

It started while thinking about my Dad. Dad passed away several years ago after a heart-breaking, slow and deadly encroachment by Alzheimer’s disease. It took him like a tide moving slowly in. It eddied around his feet he always kept planted in today. Then it ebbed away; taking him inexorably backward through his life to a point where he was an infant again. It took him to where he needed constant and continual care until he forgot how to do the most fundamental things kept him a participant in his world: he forgot to breathe. And he died quickly and without pain at that point. He died in his sleep.

Then, as I sweat in my bed; as I slowly realized what was wrong I sat upright. And here I am. Trying to tell you what’s wrong with us and why we’re disrespected so badly by our governmental workers – the Congress.

My Dad was “old school”. He was polite. He had manners. He said yes sir and no ma’am. He held the door open for my mother, and any other lady, so they could enter. He pulled the chair out for Mom at the dinner table. He kept a strong and commanding presence in his manner. Nobody played him for a fool and got away with it. Principles were his foundation and he built his world of integrity on that foundation.

Dad was a military man. He was the epitome of the “quiet professional”. He learned his trade in the Navy and he served us, his countrymen, with a sense of pride and a reliability common among him and his peers. You could count on him to do the right thing and NOT what was expedient so as to go-along-to-get-along.

Conservatives are in the same vein of un-mined gold my Dad was resident in. Conservatives believe there’s an American foundation makes us different from all others on this planet. We are the descendants of a people stood, fought, died and taught us the need to stand, fight and yes, maybe die for the privilege of living in this nation. But we’re slowly dying of the lethargy engendered by being non-participants in our own governance. We’re forgetting how we got to where we’re at.

Our predecessors made Dad understand a distant and foreign government can’t understand our needs and supply them. An absentee government can only issue edicts and laws benefiting it and always at the detriment to the people actually supplying the blood, sweat and tears necessary to make a nation great. You can legislate from afar. You must be in the forefront of the citizenry to lead.

Our Congressmen and Senators legislate. They don’t lead. Even though they claim to, they have little they know of our work, our lifestyles and the manner and way we feel about the job performance they turn in so proudly. They know nothing of how taxes strip an already shrunken paycheck growing gaunt daily because they want to keep non-working or under-performing citizens voting for them. They grant “equality” by giving away what you work for. They strip you of your specialty and make you feel less than you are.

Now, for the crux of the problem. We don’t make it personal for these people. They only speak to us at events like Town Hall meetings and political rallies. They control the narrative. They tell you what to think.

I suggest we make it personal. Let’s NOT picket on the steps of the Capitol. Let’s picket in front of their homes and make them aware of how we feel. Everything they do affects you at home; why not the same for them? Find out where Mrs. Congressman (his wife) has her hair done and where she shops. Get your hair done and shop there. Make it personal for him/her. Picket these places when they’re there. Place flyers under the wiper on their personal cars.

Make it personal. Make it real. Richard Trumka does it. Let’s do it to them.

Thanks for listening.