Taking on Big Government
What do you mean "The Return of Big Government" [April 21]?
What do you think we've had during the Bush years if not record-breaking big spending—too much of it on the war in Iraq and billions more approved by a Republican-controlled Congress in the first six years? Rather than pouring billions into Iraq, doesn't it come down to discerning and deciding what the American people consider priorities, like healthcare, economy-boosting projects (better roads, new bridges, etc.), environmental improvement, and development of clean, renewable energy to relieve our ridiculous oil dependency?
Raymond Kuhl
Stevensville, Mich.
You implied that "big spendingfor infrastructure . . ." is a function of a voracious appetite to spend by politicians who like the idea of "big government." You further imply that small government proponents (Republicans and independent conservatives, I guess), if maintained in power, could avoid the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill by force of will or some other magic. What? Bridges won't crumble across the interstate highway system? Airport runways and antiquated radar systems will magically last for several more generations so that none of us will have to pay the piper? Maybe Rep. Paul Ryan was right. Maybe before Americans wake up to the challenges of 2008 and beyond, they will "swing back our way pretty fast just because logic and reason will ultimately prevail." Yes, raising the per capita debt $10,000 in nine years is just a silly swing of the pendulum and nothing to worry about.
Dennis Nave
San Antonio
Your cover headline states: "Americans want Uncle Sam to solve their problems." You are absolutely correct. The American people have been brainwashed into believing that socialism is better than the free-enterprise system. Many feel that they are due benefits from the government and have found that representatives will tap the nation's treasury for their gain in the form of so-called entitlements. Through the Constitution, the founders gave us one basic entitlement, and that is freedom. It has been said that democracies last only until the "voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury." Financial collapse and a totalitarian form of government follow it. We are approaching that time frame.
Bill Piper
Jennings, Fla.
Why is it that every politician, from the president to county commissioner, promises programs and subsidization to get elected? If we keep bailing out everyone and everything for the mistakes that they have made, then what lessons will they ever learn? Politicians have duped Americans into believing that the government can fix their problems, and they will live better as a result. Politicians should say "No," the one word that is hard for them.
Mark Schliewe
Jacksonville, N.C.
The problems we are facing are not the effects of a small government unable to deal with issues brought about by a Brave New World. What we have is a government that is failing at a number of tasks. Size is a nonissue. On the cusp of another president taking command, let us not forget that President Bush has had more powers bestowed upon him than any other public official in the last quarter century. The argument could even be made that this president is the most powerful we've ever had. Still, most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Big government is not the panacea people are hoping for. Neither is small government, necessarily. Instead, the American people have to focus on creating a responsible government that can actually do the job.
John Overocker
Perry Hall, Md.
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DEMS UNITE!
Well, as we all know, election season is once again upon us. Our choices are, as always, a great source of controversy and strife among the American people. This is understandable as not every candidate fits our ideals of the perfect President.
However, I've noticed some very disturbing trends among voters and, most glaringly, the Democrats. Frankly, it's appalling. I can't get through a blog or a chat room without seeing Democrats at each other's throats, each bashing the views and private lives of one another's pick as the Dem candidate.
You know what, people?? Knock it off. I'm not particularly wild about Hillary or Obama either, to be honest but all have a common goal here. That goal is to do everything we can to keep the GOP out of the White House.
Haven't the GOP done enough damage already? For the past 7 years, we've been subjected to two recessions, the invasion of a sovereign country with no violent designs on us, over 935 lies from this administration ABOUT IRAQ ALONE, and the blatant trampling of our civil rights such as our privacy with the warrantless surveillance and with free speech with arrests of peaceful protestors and even people whose only "crime" was merely wearing an anti-war or anti-Bush T-shirt.
John McCain has stated that he plans on continuing our occupation of Iraq. He has also stated that he not only wants us to stay in Iraq for 100 years, but is already planning on attacking Iran, as he so playfully reiterated in his rousing rendition of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" titled "Bomb Bomb Iran."
Obama and Hillary's ideas are really not so different from one another. They have similar ideas on health care, Iraq, national security in general, etc. There are subtle nuances that make their plans slightly different but when it comes down to it, one is really just as good as the other.
It's bothersome that people are saying things like "Hillary is a warmonger"... or "Obama is a Muslim sympathizer." These same lines that Rightwingers were using against the two of them just a few short months ago and the Dems were scolding them for, the Dems are now using. I, personally, never chose a particular party with which to label myself. I consider myself an Independent even though I never formally even declared myself as such... and this is why. Both sides seem to go off the deep end when elections come up and I am so disappointed that Dems have allowed themselves to stoop to the level of "The Righties."
I don't like any party spreading lies and innuendo about any candidate, whether he or she is Republican or Democrat. It's juvenile and ignorant. I don't approve of McCain's policies but I'm not going to perpetuate the rumor that he committed treason while in the service. I have no proof that he did. On the same token, I won't perpetuate the rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist sympathizer. We have more than ample evidence that he is not.
Let's think about that particular rumor for a moment. George W. Bush has been more in the pocket of Muslim terrorist sympathizers than anyone else. Despite the fact that the Saudis not only have an appalling track record on human rights but they're also funding terrorists and helping to fund the insurgency which is killing our soldiers... Bush calls them "friend." Not only that but he's also given them weapons which are in turn being used against our troops in Iraq.
The same applies to Pakistan who has openly harbored Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden for a couple of decades. Then there's Uzbekistan, a nation with a record of committing unspeakable atrocities against its citizens...again, Bush calls them "friend."
So to say anything about Obama is not only stupid but incredibly hypocritical if you're Bush supporter. If you're a Dem, it's insincere and ridiculous. We need to pull together in these elections this year and vote for whoever the Dem nominee turns out to be, even if we have to hold out collective noses to do it. I know I will. If a GOP president gets in again, I would hate to look back and know that my missing vote helped to get him in.
So come on... remember that common goal we have to do something good for this country and keep the GOP out.
VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE!!!
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Don't blame this mess on me... I'm an Independent!
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