Citizens band together to vent their frustration
Gayle Cranford
Hermitage
Last summer the phenomenon of the Tea Party movement began all over the country. It grew into a great mass of American citizens converging onto the Mall in Washington, D.C., and then into the streets with its unexpected size.
I attended four of the tea parties myself: on State Street in downtown Sharon, at the Mercer County Courthouse, in Wexford and Lebanon.
I saw concerned but enthusiastic, worried but determined and very orderly Americans petitioning their government.
They displayed fear and frustration with the direction that our elected officials were taking our country, Constitution be damned.
These people were ridiculed and called names such as Nazis or Astroturfers but they prevailed because of love of country, concern that America was being destroyed and that they were on the right side of history.
These same citizens wrote letters and e-mails and made frequent phone calls to their elected representatives, expressing their concerns but receiving little reassurance in return. It was as if no one in Washington was listening or caring.
Yet, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid continued behind closed doors and with special deals their relentless push to pass legislation that America has shown it does not want.
Any amendments from the right were denied and there was absolutely no input permitted from conservatives who represent a higher percentage of the American people.
And then, Scott Brown won the Senate seat left by Teddy Kennedy in Massachusetts! In a state that is 3 to 1 Democrat and a vacant Senate seat considered to be a shoe-in by the Democrats, a relatively unknown Republican, who promised to vote against the health care bill, prevailed and won big.
Is Washington listening? Are they paying attention?
Reforming health care could be achieved easily
Jay Runk
Shenango Township
Your lead story on Tuesday was about President Obama looking to cut domestic programs because, as usual, the government can’t meet its domestic obligations. Does that make sense to anyone?
Why do we never hear that they are going to cut foreign aid? I’m sorry that people in other countries have problems, but so do we!
Once again our federal politicians seem to believe that it’s important for them to look important to the rest of the world and they don’t seem to be worried about the people who pay their bill.
I voted for Barack Obama because I honestly thought he wanted to make real changes in Washington. But as soon as he went after health care reform instead of campaign reform, I knew it would be politics as usual. There can be no real reform in this country until we take the money out of election campaigns.
If we want health care reform, all we have to do is make all government employees pay for their own health care. That means everyone, from the lowest janitor to the senators, representatives and even the president himself. If we do that we can watch how quickly they create real reform in health care.
Americans need the kind of help going to Haiti
Cyndie McGowan
Sharon
We dole out billions in aid to other countries. Every time there’s a catastrophe, we jump right in. Well, what about the catastrophic plight of the homeless and hungry in this country?
Not only do we have people living in the streets, we have the working poor, people who work hard just to barely get by. This used to be the land of opportunity. Now it’s the land of jobs going elsewhere.
And, yet, instead of helping our own, we choose to send aid to other countries.
I’m sorry about what has happened to all those people in Haiti but I’m more sorry about the family down the street that lost their home.
I’m sorry about the guy across the street that lost his job and can’t feed his kids. I’m sorry about my own husband, laid off for two years.
We’re sending billions in aid to these countries yet we have millions of homeless and hungry people in this country. If this country is able to aid other countries, we should be taking care of “home” first.
Look at the fiasco that’s still going on in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi after the hurricanes five years ago. Those folks still aren’t back on track. Yet, we send billions of aid to other countries. Anyone writing a donation check should write U.S.A. in the memo line. We don’t have to mend the world, when we can’t even mend ourselves!
Our system is so flawed. We barely eke by, yet we pay for all the aid that goes to other countries. U.S. money and aid should go to U.S. needs.
We can’t take care of others if we can’t take care of ourselves.
