LETTER: Election poses a real moral dilemma

To the Editor:

I have been reading the “letters to the editor” column with great interest in the past few months, and finally determined that we have a great resource in our local paper.

As I read letters which seem to defend or attack one candidate or another, I have been amazed at the amount of people that really believe that the president, or a congressman, or senators, really have that much responsibility or influence on the economy.

As I read economists, such as Ed Lotterman, in one of the Twin Cities columns, he states unequivocally that our representatives have very little influence on our economy outside of the quantity of government spending and taxation that will be imposed upon the people they represent. He does give credit to the Federal Reserve decisions on the expansion of the monetary system, and the short-term effect of cheap interest rates to bolster the economy. Macroeconomics would concur.

He also warns of the problems associated with that same Federal Reserve system allowing interest rates and the expansion of the monetary system to create bubbles in both the stock market and the housing markets. Both parties seem willing to look at making the Fed more accountable to congress, as well should be addressed.

Even putting money into infrastructure beyond the amounts of revenue that are derived for such issues as roads or schools or bridges, will eventually be added to the deficit and add to more taxation, and need to be repaid at some time.

According to my computer, I am paying more than 50 percent of my income into taxation already and I make less than $50,000 per year, when property taxes, gas taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, etc. are compiled.

True, that when President Obama’s first shot over the bow as he took office, was to reverse the law enacted by the Bush Administration to prevent U.S. dollars from being spent abroad on birth control we began to add to the deficit. But “my” greatest concern was in moral ground that presidents garner and promote. I listened to the disc jockeys on KQRS “counting down” to when the “Bush profanity laws” would be reversed after the Obama inauguration, and they could resume using more colorful words on radio and TV.

Now we have President Obama endorsing homosexual marriage on a public front, and stating that we are no longer a Christian nation. I beg you to look at any national poll of Americans answering a poll on whether we are a Christian nation.

Tammy Balwin, who is an open lesbian, is now running for the high office of Wisconsin senator. We truly have a very clear choice in this upcoming election on all of the offices that we will vote for in the upcoming weeks. Don’t miss your opportunity to steer this country in a path of your conviction. There is now talk of removing the words, “In God We Trust” from our money, removing “God” from the pledge of allegiance.

Steve Olin

Somerset

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion