How well do you know your Congressman or woman? Do you know their stand on issues that matter to you? Have they been effective in Congress at serving your community? These answers are a fingertip away. I was able to visit a website on our Congressman and find out very detailed information on many issues in our community, his stand, and how he has responded in Congress. It was quite an informative experience for me. Was it a first for me? Yes. Don't get me wrong, it is not that I don't care on a regular basis about what is going on, it is always about the limited amount of time. If you do care about what your Congressman is doing in Congress, at home, or what his stand is, don't hesitate to locate him on the web and find out.
I recently had the honor of meeting our Congressman, Mark Kirk, at a meeting at a friend's house. Honestly, this was the first time I was able to listen to a congressman/woman face to face for a lengthy period of time. It was a very enriching experience.
Mark Kirk represents the 10th Congressional District of Illinois. He is serving his fourth term. Many a times I have heard jokes about people in our government, and their inability to serve or other sarcasm.
Congressman Kirk is a very educated man, from Cornell, who also holds a Masters Degree from The London School of Economics and a Law degree from Georgetown. He has tons of experience in the government and also in the financial industry. He is emerging as one of the leaders in Congress.
The more he had to say and share, the more respect and appreciation I had gained for him serving my community. He is a straight up guy. He is very practical. Explains how he votes from his heart and not by his party. I have always wondered how one could fully agree with their party 100% of the time. Personally, I don't vote by party, it seems too easy for the candidate. I vote for the person. He/she has to prove himself/herself to me. But I digress. Back to the meeting with Mark. He shared his feelings about the war, about our rising gas prices, about problems with Lake Michigan, about our governmental leadership in America. He is a well spoken person with a vast storehouse of knowledge.
He spoke to the people in the room for an hour and a half and then took questions for 40 minutes longer. This was not a fundraiser. This was just a way for him to connect with the people he serves. In the question and answer session you could tell there were many well versed, intelligent people in the crowd. He answered every one of them in a more than satisfactory matter. He never missed a beat. Every question was welcomed and responded to. I gained such respect for this man, our congressman, and realized how fortunate we are to have him represent our interests in Congress. There is such a difference from listening to all the propaganda or reading the papers about a person, verses meeting them and listening to them in person. Bottom line-He is a stand up guy, with a passion for the community he serves.
The war is a big issue right now for us in America. Congressman Kirk is a Naval Reserve intelligence Officer who served during conflicts with Iraq, Haiti and Bosnia. It gives me confidence to know a person who has served in the forces is representing us at this time. He feels we need to look to get out of Iraq. When the time is right , I am in agreement. He explained how many changes have been made over the last month in our leadership when it comes to the war and the necessity for these changes.
What I liked most about him was his absolute willingness to serve our community. He told a few people who brought up issues to contact him at his office, to continue further in conversations that were started. He offered his willingness to listen to any issues or concerns we had. Please contact me, he would say again and again.
Honestly, over the years I have become a bit jaded by government and have felt I really don't know who I can trust. It all seems such a "sell job," and then they serve and are not what you thought they would be. Congressman Kirk renewed my faith in the people who serve our country. It is not just a job for him. He cares about our community. You could hear it in his voice. He shared many interesting facts with us, including our third highest spoken language in the area, Russian. I surely did not know this. He shared his concerns with Israel and the conflicts. He shared his concerns about health care in America, how the poorest neighborhood in our area was a few miles from my home. He educated us on the number of gangs there were in a nearby community. He came across authentic and well educated on a myriad of significant topics.
I left that meeting with a new found respect for our Congressman. I went home and looked up his website. The Internet is amazing. To be in touch with people is surely at our fingertips. So, I read his website. I read more about issues of the day and his stand on them, and what he has done in Congress. Once we vote in these people who represent us in Congress, we still have a say. We surely can contact them and keep up on who they are being for us in Congress and at home. I will look at his website more to keep up with the issues in our community and where our representative stands.
I truly believe any concern I have I could contact him easily and would get a response. Meeting with him renewed my faith in our leadership and made me feel that my opinion matters. Don't hesitate to contact your representative. If you are given an opportunity to listen to them in person, don't miss it. I feel you get a much better picture of who they are in person, rather than the news. Look up their website on the Internet, and be in touch with the issues at hand, and how your representative is handling them. Contact your Representative if you have an issue that matters to you. Hopefully, you will feel the respect, confidence and appreciation that I felt when I met with ours.
If you want to learn more about Mark Kirk, visit his blog here: Mark Kirk's Blog
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