To the Editor:
Our Broken Government.
The President’s “State of the Union” speech was NOT a truthful evaluation of the state of our Union. An honest assessment of the status of trade, crime, immigration, spending and debt would show that the Union is far worse off than when he took office. The President’s leadership and policy agenda on trade, crime, immigration, spending and debt all have one common feature: they make life harder for working Americans and put the country at needless risk. The President and the opposition party have brought us to this state of affairs because neither has been truthful with the American people. These conditions have eroded public trust in America’s leadership.
But, we Republicans need to own our share in the erosion of trust. Republicans and the President have both made life harder for working Americans and put the country at needless risk. Republicans need to accept that they’ve played a role in how and why our government is broken. We need to publicly share the blame for rampant debt, metastasizing bureaucracy, and government by unread multi-trillion-dollar, thousand-page bills, etc. The Democrats are officially in favor of all the preceding. And despite the Republicans claim, to oppose these policies – replacing Reid and Pelosi with McConnell, Boehner and Ryan would make not a tiny piece of difference.
In the Republican response to the “State of the Union,” Governor Nikki Haley hit Trump’s tough line on immigrants, Muslim immigrants in particular. “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.” She said we should welcome “properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion.” However, she did not explain HOW to vet them. And, this is a glaring oversight after the San Bernardino terrorist killings. If, “We the People” accept her “political correctness” solution, we do it at our peril. A more secure solution would be to temporarily halt Muslim immigration until we figure out how to stop the people who are trying to kill us from entering the U.S. We need to DEMAND a proper vetting of people who are trying to kill us, rather than to accept a needless national risk.
Another lack of leadership issue is on spending and the national debt. In the 1990s, Republicans led by Newt Gingrich were hammered into submission when they battled Democrats to a government shutdown. This was the last time we had a balanced National budget. Now, because of angst over government shutdowns, we no longer have the will to do political battle over spending and the debt. And if, WE the people accept profligate government spending, we do it at our peril. If we don’t ask the hard questions of the need to spend $19 trillion dollars, then we accept a needless Overspending on government by unread multi-trillion-dollar, thousand-page bills.
The President and other leaders give lip service to ‘We the People.’ The President has rejected the entire idea of ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ He has issued endless executive orders, ignoring longstanding principles of separation of powers and constitutional limits on his own power. And, in Massachusetts, our state government has ignored popularly voted Referenda. These actions ignoring principles of constitutional powers show just how broken our government is.
Edward J. Sylvia, Republican, Mattapoisett
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