You are not my senator – but you swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and this country.  I ask you to consider taking one brave step to uphold that oath.

As a citizen, I accept that our last election included an attack by Russia that provided access to hacked content that was used by this administration to win votes. Can anyone say that the wiki-leaks disclosures fueled by Russia – had no effect? I observe a set of interactions between the Trump campaign and Russia that were cause for alarm on their own but that are fueled by continued actions with respect to Russia that appear to be rewarding them for their actions.

Behind the scandal around the Russian interference in the election is a long list of questionable financial conflicts that has our president personally profiting from his office. That, too, warrants investigation. We citizens have a right to know how the president personally profits from his office and the legislation he puts forward, especially when the tax changes are focused on granting benefits to the top 1% income earners and corporations.

And now the president had fired the 3rd person that was investigating his administration and his own actions.

For me, it is past time to bring in an independent investigator / prosecutor and to appropriately fund a team to get this work done with a sense of urgency. The citizens and the country deserves answers they can trust.

But your majority leader who kept a supreme court seat vacant so that the anti-abortion issue could help the election, has immediately responded with a rejection of appointing any type of independent investigation.  This is the same person that committed to doing everything to make Obama’s administration a failure from day one – even if it hurt the country.  I have no hope that this person who wields such power represents my rights or the Constitution or our country.

And I still remember having to call into congress and complain so that the 1st act of this Republican-led Congress would not be the eliminate of the Independent Ethics Committee.  But this was on the priority agenda for your Republican leaders….

You are a senator – and you have a unique opportunity to change the dynamics of this situation.

If you are as concerned about this situation as I am, I implore you to consider changing your party affiliation.  I am not asking you to become a democrat. I am asking you to change to being an Independent and to caucus with the democrats. I am asking you to take action that can return the Senate majority control to a party that will question what this administration is doing.

You can continue to vote your conscience. ‘Real’ democrats will not have any more votes than they did before.  But you will return some sense of checks and balances to our democracy before it is too late.

It is the courageous thing to do. It is the patriotic thing to do.

You have to see that this situation is threatening our democracy.

With one party in control of all three branches of government, the opportunity to provide normal checks and balances is weakened.

With a growing number of situations that warrant independent, objective action, the only option is to take control of one part of the government from the Republican party.

Citizens can do this in 2018 – but I believe the country cannot wait that long.

You have the power to do this now.

You can stand up for the American people – or you can side with this administration and its questionable actions.