Here's Johnny (Isakson)!

My senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, seem like decent guys.  Both go to church, according to their Wikipedia bios (not that that makes someone a decent person, by any means).  Isakson taught 6th grade Sunday School for 30 years at his Methodist church.  Chambliss is the son of an Episcopal priest.  Aside from Chambliss' unconscionable attacks on Democrat Max Cleland in the 2002 race, and Isakson's convenient shifting of his positions on social issues to the right as the Christian right came into power in the early 2000s, they seem to have their bearings.  They're not shrill.  They don't seem to pander too much.

They're both super-duper conservative, but hey... I live in Georgia, now.  This ain't the Upper West Side.

It was interesting to get a letter from MoveOn, asking me if I would go to Isakson's office with them:

It's time to ask Senator Johnny Isakson if he's willing to pay his fair share. He is one of the 136 Republican millionaires currently serving in Congress. But he may pay a lower tax rate than you and most middle class Americans. And here's the thing: He gets to vote on what tax rate he pays.

That's why we're going to Sen. Isakson's office in Atlanta at noon on Friday with a petition signed by more than half a million people demanding that millionaires and billionaires like him pay their fair share in taxes. We have one simple request: "Will you pledge to support the Buffett Rule so that millionaires—like you—pay the same tax rate as the middle class?"

This is kind of a nice idea. Isakson made a huge bunch of money working hard to build a real estate firm here in Atlanta.  He's worked hard and done well.  Shouldn't he be comfortable paying a marginally higher tax rate?

I hope this visit goes well.  I also hope the folks who visit him are polite, yet firm.  I would want to ask him, "Senator, you are worth about $10 million dollars.  That must be nice.  How much do you give to charity every year and to what charities?  Can charities solve all of our social ills?  How does your wealth affect your voting patterns?  How do you think the average American making $45,000/yr.--or the 46 million people who now live under the poverty line at about $20,000/yr., feel about your position on keeping taxes low for the wealthiest citizens?  How do you think they feel about your position that we need to starve the government's social benefit programs?  How is your approach--one that keeps corporate and wealthy individual tax rates obscenely low, NOT a massive form of government welfare... for the rich?"

Like I said.  Polite, but firm.  I'd like to hear his honest answers.