President Obama ran on his first campaign to make changes in the US. The people who elected him felt that his message was that the changes would be better for the country and the American people. Since that time the changes have only suppressed the people and caused them more financial difficulty. Those of us that are educated, run households, and know how budgeting actually work are very tired of how things are going in Washington today. We are tired of excuses of party line politics getting in the way of progress, and them also being used as political tools in the media to promote party agendas. The time has come to make some changes in our government and in the government programs.
No one likes to budget. There is not one household in the United States that wants to sit down and cut our things that they enjoy or want in their homes. Some of the cuts we make actually hurt. For instance, as a parent I will forgo my own medical treatment and live with pain, even with the high cost of insurance we pay through my husband's work, due to co-payments if my children need food. We give up everything extra. We no longer have cable or satellite service on our television. We shop at bulk food stores and never buy name brand. We buy used clothing and shoes instead of new. We fight each day to bring down expenses by keeping the heat lower even in the dead of Winter. We need a new roof, but we can't even afford that because our taxes are so high on our home and our mortgage rate is high, but we can not afford to move or sell our home. We had our car repossessed because I no longer could work due to my illness, and yet they refused me Social Security benefits, because they seem to refuse almost everyone unless you hire a lawyer, which we can't afford; which is one of the reasons we needed benefits. These are realities that the politicians in Washington do not even seem to consider. We cut our own costs down to the bone and still struggle. Gas prices go up while our paychecks go down. We understand about sacrifice and how much it hurts.
The average American household makes $41,000 per year. If these same American people worked only the days in which most of what we see our Congress doing and did their job as poorly as what our elected officials are doing they would no longer have a job. Nancy Pelosi says to not cut your pay and ruin her dignity. How is her dignity in tact knowing that every single day she has not considered the real issues that we face financially and that she is willing to consider on her political party concerns over the welfare of the people she represents? I think she has lost her dignity when she lost her integrity over thinking that politics is more important than people. When she said that signing a bill because it was beneficial politically was more important than passing a bill that would be good for the people she supposedly represents. She is not alone in her loss of dignity. Many other politicians are following her suit.
So yes, many of us in Wisconsin want you to take a pay cut to where you are working as hard as the average American and making the same amount as the average American. We want the life time benefits stopped. We want you held accountable for the jobs you perform and the policies you make. If it takes a sequester for you to sit down and actually formulate a budget, then by all means sequester yourselves and come up with a feasible plan that benefits the American people and not the party or Congressional pocket books.
So yes, we, the taxpayers of this nation, want change. We want real change that matters. We want real representation. We don't want to see you spending our tax dollars on lavish parties and hobnobbing with celebrities while we struggle to buy a gallon of milk. We don't want party politics or politics as usual. We want results.
Sincerely,
Donna N. Dunbar
Neenah, Wisconsin
