To the editor:
We live on the border with Canada, where campaigns for Prime Minister take 30 to 60 days at the most. We’re envious because our country is now in campaign-mode year round. We have to listen to electioneering ad nauseam even when the people have spoken at the polls.
The announcement that the opposition party would not work as long as Preident Obama is in office has become a reality. We have to listen daily about placing blame, threatening to keep dismantling anything and everything anyone else has built to aggrandize their being the boss of all Americans — complaining is their modus operandi day after day.
There certainly was plenty to do with the wars and the Middle East blowing up. But these elitist legislators sit on their hands with nothing to do, spending money for their pet projects. They have spoken and continue to get their lucrative salaries and benefits generously paid by the taxpayers, despite their unwillingness to do their jobs.
Now, the parties are in the process of choosing their candidates for the Presidency of the United States. The field is being winnowed; the Republicans are down to Carson, Kasich, Rubio, Cruz and Trump. We have a Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, who has been joined by Bernie Sanders, who started running as a Democrat before he was enrolled in our party.
Sanders has been in Congress for 25 years as an Independent. He has not succeeded in passing his agenda. His taking something that he has never worked a day for is problematic for us who have been involved in the political process since we were teenagers. We didn’t appreciate being raised in what looked and felt like a third-world country. The greatest generation, who raised us, worked hard to meet the needs of its children and community. History classes taught us that if we want to change the status quo, we have to get involved. We chose to be Democrats because that was the party that worked on issues of importance. We had seen how FDR had given the elderly Social Security and LBJ Medicare without a single Republican vote.
We had a revolution when this country was founded; we really don’t want to start from scratch again. We don’t appreciate someone who never lifted a finger to help build the Democratic Party and fight for the issues of the rank and file citizens now take what is not his to grab. He does a great job of articulating all the needs of our country now. Where has Bernie Sanders been? AWOL!
Now that Sanders claims to be a Democrat, he espouses principles regarding education. Fine, we do, too, and would have appreciated his help over time. He is hanging his hat on campaign finance reform, again a little late. The most egregious claim is that all legislators are corruptible, except him.
Stealing something that doesn’t belong to him fits the description of wrong behavior. We have to raise money for political campaigns since most of us are not wealthy. We like Hillary Clinton, who was never found to have exchanged a vote for cash. If people are doing that, throw the book at them. Sliming everybody to make a point is disingenuous.
Hillary Clinton is by far the best prospect for the Presidency of the United States. For the last 40 years, she has dedicated her life to helping all Americans by developing good public policies.
As a young lawyer, she directed her energy and skills to the benefit of children. Her crowning achievement was the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which insures more than 10 million children.
As First Lady of Arkansas, she was assigned by her husband, Gov. Bill Clinton, to head a committee to create a plan for improving education in the state’s public schools. The plan was approved and transformed the education system dramatically.
As First Lady of the United States in the 1990s, Hillary was in charge of a select committee to draft a universal health care program. Unfortunately, the proposal failed due to the intransigence of Republican legislators.
Ross and Judy Paradis
Frenchville
