Why is everything that is going on in Washington the Republicans’ fault when we have a Democratic President who can veto and a Democratic Senate that can stop any bill from going through?

Mr. Jim Crawford should take a lesson in economics before he spouts more Democratic rhetoric.

First, neither side was willing to give in until the last minute. Then they both did.

In economics, we simply cannot keep spending money that we don’t have. There will come a day to settle up — or go bankrupt.

The Democrats still think that we can simply just print more money and play forever. Try this with your paycheck and see how long before you are in the same boat as our country, which is $14.3 trillion dollars in debt.

For those who don’t know, a trillion is 1,000,000,000,000.

Mr. Crawford simply has forgotten that America was formed as a free country — free to work and free to make money. But he wants to live under the government’s domain, letting them tell us what we can make, tax us as they see fit and give to the loafers who never worked a day in their life, nor would they work if they had a job offered.

He has forgotten that we were born to work and make a living, and the pay scale of an individual is what they can earn.

Also, the highest 1 percent of the wage earners pay now 38.02 percent of all taxes, the top 5 percent pay 58.72 percent and the top 50 percent of the wage earners pay 97.3 percent of all taxes and the lower brackets get some of their money back, (of which I am in) but not of the one’s who get earned income credit to boot.

Would Mr. Crawford want the government to control all our lives, tell us what we can earn, eat, where we can go, when we can go? Just how much of our lives is he willing to give up to this government?

There is a two-party system of checks and balances that we need to keep from being in a dictatorship, which I for one do not want, by either party.

We do need a check and balance government, not a one-party system with either Republicans or Democrats in charge.

Both parties have been guilty of spending more money, and now we will have to “bite the bullet” so to speak if we are to survive.

Again, I say it is both parties that have gotten us in this shape, we now have to try and get back to basics.

Homer Campbell

Ironton