"Congress doesn't act unless there is a crisis," one member of Congress once told me. That axiom is growing more apparent every day. Since many in Congress want to deny that we face crises in our economic infrastructure, the public must act now to remind them. We must demand urgent action to save our economic infrastructure. We must holler until they start to follow.

Instead of reading poll numbers, Congress must start reading thousands of e-mail messages from angry voters in their districts and states. Instead of listening to their political advisers, Congress must start listening to thousands of phone calls from people who are fed up with the income tax code, the dysfunctional Social Security structure, and runaway deficit spending. Instead of focusing on partisan politics and the next election, we must force Congress to focus on not leaving this mess for the next generation.

Let's start with a few real simple and specific messages. Congress, replace the income tax code with a national sales tax modeled on the FairTax. Congress, pass legislation that includes optional personal retirement accounts for workers younger than 45 years of age using 4 percentage points of their payroll taxes. Congress, let's enact a balanced budget amendment, since you have demonstrated that you cannot control your spending addiction.

Imagine what would happen if every member of Congress received this simple message every week from thousands of voters in their districts and states. Maybe then they will begin to see the same crises that we the people face every day.

As an economic superpower we should be embarrassed that nations once part of the communist Soviet Union, such as Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovakia recently replaced their outdated tax systems with a single-bracket flat tax system. These formerly backward nations are all experiencing booming economies as a result.

We should be embarrassed that the small country of Chile established a system of personal retirement accounts in 1980 that has provided real retirement security for its citizens.

We should be outraged that a few municipalities and workers in certain fields, such as teachers and railroad employees, were allowed to opt out of Social Security while the majority of us suffer under the current broken system. Members of Congress should be even more embarrassed that they enjoy a personal retirement account subsidized by the taxpayers, the Thrift Savings Plan, which many of them would deny the rest of us.

If Congress is not embarrassed, maybe they have not heard us holler loud enough and often enough. Don't get mad, do something.

Herman Cain is chief executive officer of T.H.E. New Voice, Inc. and New Voters Alliance, and host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Bottom Line with Herman Cain. He is past chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and past chairman and chief executive office of the National Restaurant Association.