What do you do if you are a cocky, first-term Republican Congressman who has hitched his wagon securely to the most unpopular President in American history, and now, as the time for re-election draws near, you realize you are in trouble?

What do you do if you have spent your first term in office ignoring the real needs of your constituents in order to cater to the wishes of the fat cats who paid for your campaign?

Well, if you are Peter Roskam, you come up with some lame gimmick to try and convince the residents of your district that you give a damn.

Roskam recently announced, in front of an auditorium virtually devoid of an audience, his “There Ought to Be a Law” competition, asking his constituents to go to his website and submit their legislative ideas. Roskam will then pick the top five ideas and allow his constituents to vote on which should be drafted into a bill by Roskam.

Roskam rationalizes the contest this way:

“As a new member of Congress, I have learned first-hand what most 6th District residents already know, Washington is broken. Partisan politics have hamstrung Congress’ ability to find solutions to the most pressing problems our nation faces.

“The constituents I represent are reasonable folks with sound ideas – and it’s time to send a little more 6th District solutions to Washington.

This, of course, is ridiculous. What is broken, what isn’t working, is Roskam. Roskam has been presented with a wealth of good ideas during his first term:

• A fair minimum wage
• Equal pay for equal work
• Non discrimination in employment
• Help for homeowners struggling with out of control mortgage payments
• Tougher standards to prevent workplace injuries
• Development of alternative energy sources
• Ending the practice of torture
• Providing health coverage to uninsured Illinois children
• Congressional ethics reform
• Health and employment services for returning veterans

To name just a few. Democrats in Congress, working for change, have proposed them all. Roskam has opposed them all for partisan reasons and to please those who lavish campaign contributions upon him. Roskam has a lot of nerve complaining about partisanship.

Nevertheless, I shall humor my Congressman. Here are my 5 modest ideas for your consideration, Peter:

1. De-fund the present occupation of Iraq and provide for an orderly withdrawal of American troops from that country.
2. Reclaim Congressional war powers and act to prevent the President from initiating a new military conflict with Iraq.
3. Draft articles of impeachment against the President and Vice President for their illegal use of domestic surveillance, their illegal practice of torture and rendition to torture, for their politicization of the justice department, for outing an inteligence officer, etc. etc. etc.
4. Definitively outlaw the practice of torture and of warrant-less domestic surveillance.
5. Sign on in support of the new GI bill to help the men and women who have put their lives in jeopardy in Iraq and Afghanistan for the good of us all and are returning to face unemployment and economic and medical hardships.

So that’s my entry, Peter. I’m afraid that if I enter them on your web site they won’t see the light of day. So I’m challenging you here, publicly, to take them up. I know from my logs that your office reads this blog.

You will probably label my ideas as extreme or nutty. But I know that I am not alone among your constituents in thinking this way. I encourage my fellow residents of the 6th to really speak their minds and see if you are for real.

For my part, if you do these 5 things, I promise I’ll vote for you in November.