I saw your editorial online about the man that tried to sell his vote on eBay. I am James Pengov, the person who tried to sell my vote.

Your story is a decent piece of fiction, but it does miss the main reason the vote was offered for sale. I am tired of paying 10 times more for my prescription drugs than any other person living in a different country. Provigil is used to treat narcolepsy, and 30 pills cost $240 in the United States. In Canada, 100 pills cost $154, and 100 pills cost under $40 in Australia. Go figure: We, in America, fund the research and design of these drugs. We give tax breaks and credits to the drug companies, and as a thank you to America, the drug lords charge Americans more than any other citizen in the world. I am fed up with Congress and the presidents who have led them to establish such an unbalanced health care system. Please do not get me wrong; I do not want free health care any more than I want to pay $8 for one aspirin at the local hospital when I’m under its care. Both are going to ruin this country. I want drug-price regulation, and I want it based on the world average for the same drug sold in other countries. The United States regulates gas gouging. Why won’t they regulate drug prices? My guess is that there is too much money in the business. I have the fix for health care. That was the reason for the eBay listing.

I also noticed you referred back to the U.S. Constitution as a reason why we should hold our voting rights so dear. You must have forgotten to read that whole thing about how the regular American citizen does not vote for the president. I recommend you read Article II of the Constitution before you perpetuate the idea that every vote counts in a presidential election. In my eBay listing, I reserved the power to vote my conscience in all other election issues, save the president. If you had read the listing, you would have seen that. I know the value of the vote, and I am aware of the sacrifice that was made to preserve that right for my generation.

I also know that the pen can wage war more swiftly than the sword. My eBay listing has set into motion a shot heard ‘round the world. The listing was covered in six countries that I can verify. There have been four TV news stations that have covered it. Three of them came to my house to interview me, like responsible reporters, prior to running the story. My story has made the front page of several newspapers and has been covered by more than 150 Internet newspapers. I have also been on radio talk shows in more than 25 states.

I have not been charged for any crime. Sen. John Kerry may have personally had a lot to do with that. You see, in Springfield, Ohio, during the midnight sales pitch, he called a rally. Wannabe Kerry told the people of Ohio that he would make sure we all had $1,000 cash in the bank to offset medical bills – if we vote him into office. You can’t prosecute a person for selling a vote when you have public figures trying to buy them every day!

If you want a real story, you should cover the need for election reform and stop these pirates from buying the Oval Office. Perhaps you should even cover the prescription drug lord racket. But, certainly, wasting Internet space to rip on a person who you never even contacted prior to your editorial is a poor blog at its best.

James Pengov

Ohio resident