Mr. Richard Cordray, Director
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
(Attn: 1801 L St.)
Washington DC 20220
info@consumerfinance.gov
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
(Attn: 1801 L St.)
Washington DC 20220
info@consumerfinance.gov
Dear Mr. Cordray:
Congratulations on your recent appointment
to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I'm
confident I speak for millions of people when
I say it's about time for this kind of effort on behalf of American
citizens.
I have one simple suggestion that won't cost
much, but it could have a lasting positive effect on our democracy. Please
rename your agency. Stop calling us consumers.
We are Citizens with a capital C. In
addition, please lead an effort to ask all kinds of media to follow suit.
Nothing captures the contemporary
dilemma of political disengagement more than the commercial reality of consumer
versus citizen. So many people view the government not as us but as them. “We the
people” means that we are the
government, because we are citizens, not because we are consumers. Citizens are
responsible; consumers just devour.
Citizen versus
consumer is an issue that transcends political affiliation. Arguments about
inequality aside, I don’t think it’s that hard to convince the political left,
right, or center, that a return to the ubiquitous use of the word citizen, while scrapping the word consumer, would have a positive effect
for democracy. It seems like such a small thing, and some will no doubt think
it silly, but it would likely result in a paradigm shift in democratic
expectations.
Sincerely,
Charles D.
Hayes
Wasilla, Alaska
autodidactic.com
septemberuniversity.org
Wasilla, Alaska
autodidactic.com
septemberuniversity.org
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