Letter Posted by Hardev Singh Shergill, editor or SikhBulletin.com. He wants Obama to give back his campaign donations. Seems reasonable to me -- CN
THIS IS NOT THE CHANGE I BELIEVE IN OR VOTED FORMr. President:
By the time I came to North America in 1960 at the age of 26 I was a keen student of world History and Geography with special emphasis on the United States of America. I liked this country. It turned out every bit as I had expected. But in time two things began to concern me; one had to do with its foreign policy and the other with the domestic policy. Both of those issues still concern me.
When I heard the reports that you might run for the Presidency I decided to read both of your books to see if I could support you. I was convinced that it would take a charismatic new comer to galvanize the nation for a major shift in its governance for the benefit of its people rather than the Corporations and to restore the U. S. prestige and moral leadership in the world that both the U. S. and the world deserved. I liked what I read in those books and decided to support you should you enter the fray, knowing full well that the odds were against you because almost the entire Democratic establishment and machinery and vast majority of my former countrymen were arrayed in favour of another candidate.
Once you declared your candidacy, for the first time, I plunged myself into politics. I contributed financially to your campaign, canvassed family and friends to support you, wrote editorials in my own publication, and four letters to the Editor of The Sacramento Bee. They published three but the fourth one, in which I had commented on John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as an insult to the U. S. voters, was not published.
Those two issues that had concerned me about my adopted country for decades, Mr. President, were:
1. One sided policy in the Middle East, heavily and unreasonably in favour of Israel and against the Palestinian people who fell victim to an invasion of sorts after World War II. In the earlier period there were bright spots in the U. S. policy, when, for example, President Eisenhower minced no words and gave Israel days to vacate the Sinai Peninsula after it invaded Egypt with French and British connivance and during President Carter's Presidency. Even another Republican President, Bush the Father, stood up to Israel and its Lobby by threatening to withhold aid if Israel did not stop illegal construction in occupied Palestinian land.
I had every hope that you will play a balanced role in that dispute but unfortunately not that nothing constructive has happened but you have not even been able to stop illegal construction by Israel on land the Palestinians have come to accept as their truncated home land and the U. S. policy at the United Nations is still blindly pro-Israel. The tail (Israel) is still wagging the dog (United States).
2. For the world's richest and most powerful nation not to have universal health insurance without profit motive was the second issue that concerned me. In this case at least you were a very vocal advocate. If I remember correctly, in an internet video, while you were still in the Illinois Senate, you spoke in favour of public option for the State because single payer can be done only at the Federal level. During the campaign you astutely refrained from speaking in favour of single payer because if you had, you would not have been elected. But you were very clearly in favour of a strong public option to provide competition to the Insurance industry and keep costs down. That was the mandate that you were given.
All during the debate I participated actively on the internet in signing petitions and making phone calls, certain all the time that you were working behind the scenes to accomplish your campaign promises. But there were disturbing signs. It was a shocker to hear Blanche Lincoln announce to the nation on MSNBC that you had never campaigned for public option, followed by Joe Lieberman's statement that you never asked him to support public option. Omission of the word Senator before their names is deliberate. But what really broke the camel's back was your own statement that you did not campaign for public option as a candidate. That was followed by immediate rebuttal by Keith Olbermann on his MSNBC hour quoting you repeatedly in favour of public option during your campaign as a candidate and later as President.
Mr. President, I am deeply disappointed and disillusioned. I feel having been had, betrayed and lied to. Even in the matters of Financial and Real Estate collapse you chose to protect the Rich Bankers and not the working middle class home owners. To give you a personal family example: A family member purchased a house at the height of the bubble for $340,000.00 with $40,000.00 down. Both he and his son lost their jobs because of the economic down turn; daughter-in-law made enough money to pay the other bills. Bank refused to readjust the mortgage or the interest and ten months later sold the property to an out of town investor for $180,000.00. This family is now renting ‘their' house from this investor at $1,200.00 a month, almost precisely the same amount that they had started with at the time of purchase with deceptive interest arrangements. Why could not they have their mortgage reduced to $180,000.00?
In the matter of Afghanistan you have chosen to increase U. S. presence in Afghanistan. Land of Afghanistan is littered with the graves of Mongols, Persians, Greeks, Turks and Russians. It did not need American blood. But you have made your choice.
For the reasons stated above, Mr. President, I have to ask you to return the funds that I contributed to your Presidential campaign because they were obtained under false pretenses. My records show that I made 31 contributions amounting to $2,391.00. It goes without saying that I will not be supporting your reelection nor would I give any funds to Democratic establishment but I will support individual progressive Democrats, i.e. ‘non-Blue Dog' Democrats, directly or through progressive Democratic organizations.
To ensure acknowledgment this letter will be mailed Registered with return acknowledgment receipt.
Sadly,
Hardev Singh Shergill
El Dorado Hills, CA
