Dear Governor, Senator, Congressperson, President

[SoCalDem]

You are not elected to occasionally step before the cameras and ask US to pray for (insert family member name of most recent disaster here)..Don't ask us to send "positive thoughts", or even money. Don't tell us about the indomitable spirit of the community or count up the yellow ribbons you saw on the way to the cameras.

Don't go before the cameras and put on your "serious grown-up face" and claim to be prepared to "get to the bottom of (insert whichever disaster applies)".

There is no need to tell us how sorry, /upset, /discouraged, /disappointed you are at the recent events.

We don't need to know what was on your dinner plate when you were called to show up at the disaster site.

We are all more familiar with your jocular campaign-face. You know the one.. the one you use when you are within range of cameras, and you are out gathering money from the faithful.

I wonder how many of those rabidly faithful are busily sorting through closets after (insert recent disaster here), looking for something dark..to wear to the funerals.

We all know we can count on you to climb any rubble pile, grab any megaphone, sidle up to any microphone, mug for any camera, and proclaim how sorry you are and how brave the families are , and how well they are holding up.

THAT, my friend, is called human nature..It's what we ALL do in a catastrophe.. we cope.

We have heard all the words before... we know the lyrics by heart.

A catastrophic collapse is a "bump" or a "bounce".. A calamitous breach of levees, and flooding of an entire city is "an act of God..even though God did not build even one of those levees".

What we need for you to do is simple. Quit trying to be an after-the disaster solution to a catastrophe you helped to create, by failing to do due diligence BEFORE an "event" can occur.

That IS your job, by the way.. We hire you people to take care of the things we private citizens cannot.

We expect regulations for safety in mines. We expect bridges to be designed correctly, built with the best materials, and inspected for safety, on a regular basis.

We expect multi-billion dollar road projects to be put together with more than super glue and a prayer.

We expect you and the regulations/laws you create , to make EVERY workplace as safe as it possibly can be.

The really sad thing is that your donors offer you money to "look the other way" and allow THEM to be the ones who decide what is safe, and the people who mark your name on the ballot are expecting you to be on THEIR side.

So step away from the limelight for a while, and maybe spend some time going over the laws that govern the dangerous jobs that so many people do. They do these jobs because often they are the ONLY jobs available to them. It's not asking too much for them to be treated a little more respectfully while they are alive.