Regarding George F. Will’s March 19 column, “The nation’s accelerating self-assassination”:
After the national debt hit $39 trillion, Will noted, as I have for years, that Congress’s reckless spending has put our country on the path to economic ruin.
For decades, Congress has fueled its spending spree by borrowing from our children and grandchildren’s futures to pay Communist China interest on our debt. We’ll likely hit the $40 trillion mark before November’s midterm elections.
As infuriating as that is, it’s not news. Everyone knows Washington has a devastating spending problem.
There is no way to tax or borrow ourselves out of this hole. Every place that Washington has forced big government into our lives has hurt us.
Big government has made the cost of living explode and is threatening to destroy the American Dream. This is especially true for younger Americans, who have been royally screwed by Washington’s failures and the massive costs they’ve created.
Housing, child care, health care, college tuition, starting a business, everything you can think of is harder and more expensive because big government got involved.
Big government causes problems; free markets solve problems.
America is the greatest nation on earth. We can and must have safety nets, so folks don’t fall through cracks. But unless we radically shrink the size and power of the federal government, no safety net can exist and the American Dream will die.
This isn’t a problem to fix tomorrow; the ship is sinking today. If your representative in Congress thinks big government can fix it, vote them out.
Rick Scott, Naples, Florida
The writer, a Republican, is a senator from Florida.
Thank you to George F. Will for reminding us, yet again, of the looming entitlement-based financial crisis.
I’m a baby boomer and not alone when I say we, too, want to clean up this mess. The solution seems clear: We have to fix a dysfunctional political system that ignores the huge middle on both sides of the spectrum. Easy to say, hard apparently to do.
We seniors want decent lives for our children and grandchildren, and we are willing to contribute. Solutions to vast problems demand that we all participate. Seniors might be willing to pare back modestly on Social Security payments, but even those at the low end of the benefit should contribute.
Other relatively doable solutions have been offered, such as slightly higher gas taxes and some equivalent for electric vehicles that use roads, a small federal sales tax, and eliminating caps on Social Security withholdings on the employee side. And voters need to reward centrist candidates. There is some room for hope, but it is vanishing.
David McAuley, McLean
George F. Will’s use of Russ Greene’s phrase “Total Boomer Luxury Communism” might be titillating, but it’s not helpful. Nor is encouraging generational conflict.
The average monthly Social Security payment for a retired person is $2,071, or nearly $25,000 annually.
And Medicare Parts A and B do not pay for gym memberships or golf outings. Some Medicare Advantage programs do provide expanded benefits (some appropriate, some questionable) because the payments that insurers receive from the federal government are excessive.
Rather than categorizing elderly people as swindlers, can we please point a finger at Congress and the executive branch for enriching the insurance companies and not taking obvious remedies such as eliminating the cap on Social Security withholding, implementing means testing for benefits, rightsizing the payments to Advantage insurers, halting tax cuts when we are so deeply in debt, stopping efforts to seduce elders for their votes, and funding the IRS so it can actually enforce tax laws? Congress and the executive branch need to be courageous and do their jobs.
By the way, I vote because I am a conscientious citizen, not to “defend and enlarge my benefits.” Does Mr. Will think I should stay home?
Amy Jones, Arlington
Should Virginians destroy democracy in order to save it?
With early voting underway, thanks for giving readers the actual wording of Virginia’s April 21 ballot question [“What voters need to know about the Va. referendum,” Metro, March 14]. The measure claims “to restore fairness in the upcoming elections.” How is it fair to carve our purple state into 10 blue districts and just one red?
I proudly supported the 2020 referendum that established a bipartisan redistricting commission, and I proudly supported Virginia Democrats in November. But I say no to their duplicitous power grab.
Tom Guterbock, Crozet, Virginia
Here in Virginia, we are being asked to destroy our democracy in order to save it. We are asked to disenfranchise our friends and neighbors because President Donald Trump has strong-armed Texas and other Republican-led states to do the same. The worst part of Virginia Democrats’ line of reasoning is that it makes sense, and I plan to support redrawing our congressional districts.
I’m uncomfortable with the cynicism of the promise to “temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections.” The new districts, of course, will be less fair than the current ones. But I hope Virginia’s unfair redistricting will at least partially offset the unfair redistricting in other states — i.e., that in today’s rotten politics, two wrongs will make a right. And if you believe this will be “temporary,” Virginia will be happy to sell you the American Legion Bridge.
Len Rogers, Arlington
The March 13 editorial “A euphemism for the ages in Virginia” rightly observed that the nationwide redistricting rush has ennobled neither party. The deeper problem is the political logic driving it.
Street racers say, “Drive it like it’s stolen.” Push the machine past its limits because it won’t be your problem to fix when the race is over. Today’s political culture resembles a street takeover. Each side justifies its actions by pointing to the other.
When retaliation becomes the organizing principle of politics, restraint disappears and the system itself begins to break down. Good government is not a street takeover. We cannot drive the system to destruction for the next victory.
Thomas Hobert, Williamsburg
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