Day 35...Dear President Obama...Govenment is NOT the problem...

Day 35

Dear Mr. President,

Ever since Ronald Reagan said that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem”… the conservatives have adopted that mantra as their collective sledge hammer against anything the government tries to do for the people.

I believe that government is not the problem, but politicians are the problem. They are the ones that cannot move anything meaningful through either the House or the Senate. Each politician seems hell bent to push his or her own agenda, or should we call it what it really is… a vendetta against anything the opposing party wants.

People have very short memories about some very important government achievements, and I think you need to remind the people of some of the things we all take for granted. For example: I’ll start with the most obvious because it is now under attack by the GOP, and that’s Medicare and Social Security. The GOP has been yammering for so long about those programs going bankrupt that most of the younger generation, believe that it won’t be there when they need it. Have people forgotten about the GI Bill, where over 16 million World War II vets received money to attend college? Why do they think that higher education because such and important goal? What about all the public health programs that gave birth to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health? How do people think diseases like polio, smallpox and cholera, measles and whooping cough have all but been eliminated in the U.S? How about our interstate highway system, which amounts to about one quarter of all roadway traffic? Did the private sector build them? No.

Americans just assume that when they turn on their faucets, that the water will be there and it will be potable. And the air we breath, I can assure you that the “private sector” would not have done a thing to keep our air clean if they hadn’t been forced to by “the government.” What about sewage treatment plants, workplace safety, the military, food and drug safety, and funding for scientific research on things like breast cancer, and heart disease? Yes Mr. President, people have short memories.

The “problem” politicians are the ones who voted against all these “government programs,” they are the ones who seek to deregulate and weaken environmental, consumer, and workplace regulations all across the country. Unfortunately people only notice these stealth tactics to deregulate when one goes tragically awry, like the tens of millions of gallons of crude oil that spread over the Gulf of Mexico.

So while the Democrats run in every direction like “Chicken Little,” talking a lot and doing nothing as a group, the Republicans continue their “lock-step” obedience to the GOP, perpetrating their vile attacks on the middle class and the poor. So Mr. President, you need to remind people in this country that “Government is not the problem, the politicians that people elected to represent them are the Problem.”

You need to hit the reset button and change the message, “Government is NOT the problem, politicians, are the problem.”

Most Respectfully,

Your Gadfly Granny