Activists who were supporting the American dream and objecting to congressional gridlock attracted some curious glances outside Rep. Robert Goodlatte’s downtown Lynchburg office Wednesday from the lunchtime crowd.
Larry Symonds, serving as leader for the group of about 10 demonstrators, said he hoped to send a notice asking Goodlatte, R-6th District, to persuade fellow Congress members to stop bickering and create jobs instead of budget cuts.
But he found that Goodlatte’s upstairs office on Main Street was closed at midday.
Symonds said the group was not specifically Democrat or Republican, and not necessarily conservative or liberal. Four onlookers watched as group members read off a 10-item “Contract for the American Dream.”
A notice about the event was sent out by the Lynchburg Democratic Committee, which identified the rally as being affiliated with MoveOn, a political advocacy group that has raised money for Democratic candidates.
“Our goal is to help Congress understand what it is not doing,” Symonds said. “It is not addressing the needs of the country” — which, according to the group’s handouts involves a jobs crisis instead of a deficit crisis.
Rebuilding roads, rails, the electric grid and other infrastructure were high on its goals list.
Medicare should be available to all Americans, it said.
Minimum wage and collective bargaining also were on the list.
The measures can be financed by removing the cap on Social Security tax for high earners, and by closing tax loopholes and other maneuvers, Symonds said.
“How are they going to do it with just cuts?” he asked.
Members of Congress who hinted at flexibility during the recent debt-ceiling fight “were not treated kindly by their own party,” Symonds said.
Wednesday evening, Goodlatte's office responded with this comment:
"Congressman Goodlatte remains committed to finding real solutions to address our nation’s unemployment crisis. The first thing we must do is rein in skyrocketing deficit spending that discourages investment and threatens to bankrupt our nation. That is why he supported the bipartisan Budget Control Act, which makes significant progress in addressing our underlying spending problem. It’s also why he has introduced bipartisan legislation that would amend the U.S. Constitution to force Congress to balance the federal budget, ensuring that future governments live within their means."
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