I have never known a real executive, associate or regular Joe who succeeded by blaming someone else for his or her own failures. I longed for a presidential leader who made me feel secure, safe and undivided in wanting a better country.
Under the banner of the current president, I have witnessed an assault on the stated goals of government to support and uphold the working people of this nation, all 100 percent of us. I have witnessed our president apologize to the rest of the world in his views of our country’s role in the world. I have heard our first lady state that she was never proud of America until the emergence of her husband.
I have witnessed the former speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, brag about making a fortune in the stock market on insider trading tips, a clear violation of her position just two steps from the presidency. We have witnessed Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, hold our nation hostage in order to extract any tax hike.
Our president and his supporters have recently accused Mitt Romney of being responsible for fraud, tax evasion, covertly participating in the death of a cancer patient and all crimes against common decency while they threw over a trillion dollars of taxpayer money toward green energy projects that all failed.
We continue to export our money to dictators, new regimes and governments unfriendly to our nation while reducing assistance to our own citizens and infrastructure.
And now, the new Democratic Party platform at first excluded the mention of God. It includes support of abortion, alternate lifestyles and whatever flavor-of-the-day cause they can find. Whatever happened to the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy? The choices at the ballot box have never been clearer. May God lead us in the right direction.
Richard G. Hughes
Silver Lake
Principle of shared sacrifice
I enjoy listening to old-time radio shows from the 1930s and 1940s. The shows broadcast during the war years and immediately after implore the audience to help the war effort, to volunteer for a number of activities at home and to buy war bonds and then victory bonds. They talked about shared sacrifice to help the country, as that is what we Americans do: We work together to make America better.
Today, all I hear from one political party is that requiring sacrifice of others is an infringement on one’s liberty. They make it seem that pulling together to help those less fortunate is giving up one’s freedom, that those people should help themselves and that they’re needy, but they can better themselves if they only try.
That may be true for a few, but there are many who need our help. Cutting services that help people is not what human beings are about. We are here, on this planet, to help our fellow human being; to help those in need, not to tell them they are in the way and to get lost. We are here not to act as if we want to better ourselves and we’ll step on others to do it. We are here not to act like: “I want everything I have, because it’s mine.”
What about sacrifice to help those in need? Republican policies are going to create a permanent underclass in this country and that will not lead to their slogan of “American exceptionalism.” It will lead to more children growing up in poverty, with limited chance for improvement, and more talent and energy wasted that could be used to make our lives better. When someone asks for a hand up, you extend your hand; you don’t slap it and tell the person he or she is in your way. If we are not on this planet to help our fellow human being, why are we here?
Phil Levy
Bath Township
What about academic achievers?
Isn’t it strange that high schools release in August information about their football teams and coaching staff but say nothing about members of their academic honor roll and members of their first-team scholastic squads?
Does it matter which students finished on the honor roll and are ready to repeat that performance this year? Why doesn’t the Beacon Journal publish something about this aspect of school academic accomplishments? Earning an academic scholarship for college and membership in an honorary society is certainly as important as getting a trophy for throwing a football. It is as though nothing else matters in August but football. We read about which team is likely to finish the season with a winning record and a championship trophy, but nothing is said about which students are likely to become salutatorian and valedictorian of their graduation class. We read about football coaching records, and nothing is said about the teachers who contribute to making valedictorians. Certainly, this is as important as team football records for a school district. Misplaced priorities? I think so.
David Gruccio
Cuyahoga Falls
Obama’s record of accomplishment
Gary W. Kirr’s uninformed and emotional rant (“Obama’s record of failure,” Aug. 31) demands a response. With President Obama’s leadership, my high-tech business is doing great, the state Route 21/ Interstate 77 overpass and on-ramp got rebuilt, making it easier for my clients to reach my offices. Many other infrastructure projects have been completed, some are in progress, and others are soon to be under way.
On the economic side, it is definitely improving. My company is hiring, and we pay very well. The Dodd-Frank legislation was passed, which put back part of Glass-Steagall that helped rein in the Wall Street excesses that caused the so-called mortgage crisis. The Dow Jones is over 13,000, inflation is low, and real estate is inexpensive. The auto industry is back on its feet ,and GM is starting to make money and pay back what we loaned to the company. The automobile fuel efficiency standards have been mandated to go up. This will reduce our dependence on foreign energy supplies and provide a strong incentive to dramatically improve transportation technology. That process has very beneficial spin-off effects for job creation through real innovation.
On the national level, federal government accounting is now accurate because there are no more war spending “supplementals” that were off the “government accounting books” (to hide the real costs) under George W. Bush. NASA is regaining its swagger with the Mars mission. We have a starting point to get to universal health care. Now no one can be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. That was and remains a major victory for Obama’s administration.
On the international level, we got Osama bin Laden and significantly dismantled al Qaida’s operational capability. Foreign relationships and cooperation are improving dramatically after an eight-year “freeze” under Bush. Foreign nations are starting to respect us again and are more willing to assist us in peacekeeping operations. Technological development has also gone global, with researchers around the world pooling skills to create new products, medical treatments and other helpful processes and procedures, assisted in part by U.S. funding. We are out of Iraq, and we are slowly drawing down in Afghanistan.
There are too many Obama administration accomplishments to list. Most important, all of this was done with very vocal and unrelenting Republican opposition.
In contrast, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s speech at the Republican National Conventions was full of lies. Ryan voted for TARP, the GM bailout both under Bush II and many other things in lockstep with the prevailing Republican winds. Yet, he denied all of this during his RNC campaign speech. If Romney-Ryan are willing to lie now, how many more lies will be told if they get into office? I refuse to risk my country on two dishonest people who are willing to say anything to get elected.
Steve G. Belovich
Richfield
What’s wrong with voter ID?
What is wrong with having to show your ID when voting? I have all those little store cards on my key ring and still I have to show ID at some stores to write a check. When did showing an ID card equate with having or not having money? Don’t people have to show ID when signing up for welfare?
Say you take care of an elderly relative: You pick up his or her mail and pay the bills. Now you have a form of ID that would allow you to vote as if you were that person. I know someone will pull out a study showing there is very little voter fraud, but that argument is not really what is at stake here. Consider all the illegal immigrants in this country. The Democrats have made it impossible for poll workers to make sure you are you when you vote, since the Democrats seem to be on the side of the illegals and the Republicans are the big bad person who wants to stop illegals from being here. I am a registered Democrat. I vote for whom I think is the best candidate.
Tom Eichler
Mogadore
Time travel
Mitt Romney says he wants to take the country back — and he probably would, back to 1932.
Phil Doell
Wadsworth
