Your Opinion: Who is in touch with the public?

Dear Editor:

Conservatives say President Obama or Senator McCaskill or virtually any Democrat you can name are out of touch with the public. Democrats do not get it. Just Democrats? Really?

Conservatives, and especially the Tea Party members, gained seats in the last election. We were told the people had spoken. Immediately polls showed a divergence between what those elected said they were going to do and what the public wanted. More than half of those polled said they wanted politicians to focus on jobs and saving citizens from foreclosures.

The now conservative U.S. House spent its first three months attacking women, Planned Parenthood, NPR, public television, science, talking about Sharia law and accusing American Muslims of disloyalty. Few citizens listed these issues as important. There was an effort to repeal the recent health care bill and reinstate "pre-existing" conditions used by insurance companies to exclude benefits from their customers. With employment near nine percent, none of these actions created jobs for Americans. Most conservative actions have cost jobs.

Recently, Congressman Paul Ryan presented an economic plan endorsed by the GOP. His plan contains numerous bad ideas. One major bad idea is the destruction of Medicare. Ryan has proposed a voucher system for seniors. The Wall Street Journal has pronounced his plan as the end of Medicare.

Medicare has the same problem as our American health care system. American health care is twice as expensive as any other industrialized country. For example, a Japanese citizen pays $2,580 for health care while the average American pays $7,290. The United States ranks 34th in quality of health care.

Conservatives complain about entitlement programs, but they are not willing to take on the pharmaceutical, insurance companies plus hospital and doctor lobbies, which make American health care so expensive.

Who will take on an excessive military budget approaching one trillion a year. Hypocritical conservatives complained about an Obama stimulus plan but they continue to fund a military jobs program that has no bearing on real security issues. Weapons programs are a congressional stimulus program.

Roads and bridges crumble. Schools are underfunded. Policemen, teachers, firemen and all government jobs are under pressure. Tax revenue approaches 1930s levels. Washington, ruled by Tea Partiers is trying to fix a revenue problem with more tax cuts and job layoffs. It won't work. Tea Partiers charged into Washington to save a sinking ship and veered way off course. Where are the grown-ups?

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