WASHINGTON -- In a meandering oration that hop-scotched from debt and taxes, to a get-well note he wrote President Ronald Reagan after his attempted assassination, to the Freedom Rides, to America's invention of "dental floss and the doorbell," to delivering New Orleans Hornets T-shirts to Louisiana troops serving in Afghanistan, Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, closed out the day's business in the House of Representatives Wednesday evening, inviting the American people to enter into a dialogue with him.
U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, used a speech on the House floor Wednesday evening to touch on a variety of topics and to invite the American public to join him in a dialogue."Mr. Speaker, the U.S. House of Representatives is the people's House, and it is time that we listened directly to the ideas from the people," said Richmond. "Mr. Speaker, I am inviting the American people to join in this conversation. Here is how to contact me. Here is how to talk to me. Here is how to talk to Congress. You can email me at myidea@mail.house.gov. Again, that is myidea@mail.house.gov. That is because I want to hear your ideas. Or you can go to Facebook and follow me or leave a message on the wall, or go to Facebook and contact me, or you can follow me and I will follow you on Twitter so we can have a free exchange of ideas."
"My grandmother told me a long time ago, Mr. Speaker, smart people know what they know and know what they don't know," Richmond said. "I'm telling you today that I don't know everything, and I'm willing to listen to the people that do."
To start the conversation, Richmond posed a question suggested to him by a U.S. military officer he met on his recent trip to Afghanistan "As Americans, what do we have, what do we want the government to provide, and how are we going to pay for it? "
Richmond also solicited comments about what the right tax rate would be and whether folks felt they were paying too much in taxes: "Tell me how that tax rate, that tax liability, that tax burden affected your family."
Richmond began his remarks by praising American perseverance, triumphing over the Depression, segregation (with a nod to the bravery of the Freedom Riders), and assassinations and attempted assassinations. "I personally remember the attempted assassination of President Reagan. I remember writing President Reagan a get-well note in the second grade. I even remember getting a note back saying thank you. We persevered again."
Richmond also offered a paean to American ingenuity.
"This is America, one of the most inventive nations in the world. We brought the world bifocals and the modern suspension bridge, dental floss and the doorbell, the airplane and peanut butter. America brought the world the defibrillator and the traffic light, digital recording and the Super Soaker water gun, the artificial heart and the personal computer," he said.
Toward the end of his remarks, Richmond said, "I want to take a detour for a second and just thank the New Orleans Hornets and thank their GM, Dave Dickerson, who when they found out that I was going over to Afghanistan to visit with some troops, that they sent care packages and T-shirts and bands and stickers and magazines to our troops because they understood the sacrifice that our troops were making and they wanted to make sure that they participated in just saying to our Louisiana troops, thank you, job well done, we appreciate your sacrifice."
He concluded, "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing me to invite the American people to participate and become their own representative in this Congress and talk about their ideas and express their desires, their wishes and what they're willing to sacrifice and those things they think we need to do."
And, with that, the U.S. House of Representatives adjourned for the night.
