LETTER: Bold leadership not blind ideology

To the Telegram:

The recent letter to the editor entitled “U.S. needs bold leaders” by Keith Best of Waukesha, Wis., needs a rational response.

We do need bold leadership, but we also need intelligent leaders. We need solutions based on fact that will actually work. Good solutions build on past success and work for the majority of people.

Mr. Best says, “Ryan is a man of answers and solutions.” Unfortunately, Ryan’s “solutions” are not new. They are destructive, shortsighted, and bad policy for most of us. Ryan’s “solutions” are the same old, ideologically driven, faith based, failed, trickle-down economics the Republicans have been preaching for decades.

The facts are that Social Security and Medicare are two highly successful programs. Without them, most senior citizens would be in poverty. Social Security and Medicare did not create our budget problems. These programs are trust funds, independently supported with payroll taxes, and not in immediate financial trouble. They do have problems, but they are meeting their obligations.

Our budget problems are the result of Bush era tax cuts, two disastrous wars, interest on the national debt and excessive military spending. Ryan’s “bold leadership” does not address any of these issues.

Bold leadership that takes us in the wrong direction is guided by ideology rather than fact and produces bad results for the majority is not needed.

The Cheney-Bush administration was bold, but drove us off the cliff. We do not need a repeat with Romney and Ryan.

Philip Anderson,

Maple

Tags: opinion, letters