Dear Congressman Akin,

Earlier today, the US House of Representatives passed, and President Bush signed, one of the most potentially ruinous pieces of legislation in our nation's history: A "bailout" of Wall Street's financial sector.

Thank you for standing with Missouri's voters and taxpayers by voting "no" on this pernicious and unconstitutional bill. Although the "bailout" passed, it is to your credit that you stood on principle and bucked your party's misguided leadership to oppose it.

I see that my own representative, Congressman Lacy Clay, likewise voted "no," and I am grateful to him as well.

I'm saddened to see that a majority of Missouri's House delegation, and both of our US Senators, voted for a bill which will likely be remembered as the most economically damaging congressional action since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act -- a law which arguably pushed our nation from a steep recession into the Great Depression.

As a would-be successor to your seat in the House, I ask that you continue to reach across the aisle and work with other members of Congress to block implementation of this bill, and pledge if elected to continue any such work that you begin. Nothing should be off the table. Litigation by members of the House versus the constitutionality of the "bailout" is in order, and a repeal bill should be written, sponsored and moved into the legislative pipeline as quickly as possible.

Thank you again for your principled action on this issue.

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Libertarian for US House