Dear-Editor

The president says that he plans to balance the budget by 2012. It certainly sounds good, but how will he do it while maintaining the average tax cut of $162,000 to people who earn more than $1 million dollars a year. Apart from cutting funds to Headstart, Hospitals, Housing to Seniors in need, Energy assistance to the elderly, the VA and increasing Medicare premiums, he's going to borrow it from Social Security at a rate of 200 billion a year for a total of 1 trillion dollars.. Of course no one will know about it as Social Security isn't in that part of the budget and the media isn't going to tell.

In the conservative world view, corporations are important and good. It sees the strength of the nation in it's powerful companies and billionaires. It likes big orders going to weapons corporations but has no money set aside to pay for the 92,00 new soldiers and marines the president wants, or to support our brave veterans.

The democratic world view wants a healthy business landscape, but sees that our forebears came here with very little and struggled for years until the New Deal gave them equal opportunity and helped them get a leg up with free education and a retirement safety net. The democratic model believes that investing in infrastructure brings the country prosperity and which has created the clean air we breath, the roads we drive on, the safe drugs we use, the healthy food we eat. Wages were good because we set up collective bargaining that raised wages for everyone. Over the last 26 years all these rights and wages have been under attack.

Doesn't the bible instruct us to care for all? Let's not give handouts, let's give a hand up and let people like Condoleeza Rice, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Colin Powell who all came from poor homes make it on their own.