Your Opinion: Congressman creates smoke screens

Dear Editor:

I was interested to see how our congressman would address the shutdown.

Frankly I'm not surprised. Here we are with government ground to a halt in a hopeless fool's errand. Science research is stalled which stops cancer trials, our national parks and monuments are closed, furlough of food and drug employees prevents detection of food-borne illnesses, investigations by our FBI are on hold, and more. In the wake of this very important time how does our congressman respond? Instead of taking responsibility for the mess he and his comrades created he puts up smoke screens about Benghazi and Dodd-Frank.

Many Americans were saddened by the loss of life at the embassy in Benghazi but where was GOP outrage when several embassies took hits during the Bush administration? The Dodd-Frank bill is admittedly a behemoth but with shrewd tax lawyers doing their dirtiest it had to be this involved. It's far from perfect but the hope is that this will prevent more Wall Street bankers playing fast and loose with other people's money then, after sustaining great losses, expecting bailouts from the American taxpayer. Neither of these issues need our immediate attention. So where is Congressman Luetkemeyer's defense of this shutdown debacle?

Apparently these folks who tell us they cleave to our Constitution with all their might don't believe it when something happens that they don't like. Luetkemeyer and his buddies would rather hold up Social Security and Medicare checks along with pay to military personnel, all for show. The current sequester isn't wreaking enough havoc so the GOP needs to create more? There should be no negotiations with these folks. They will not hold our country for ransom.

Next Congressman Luetkemeyer defends the subsidies to corporate farms while putting the screws to those given meager amounts for food from the SNAP program, aid given mostly to families with children, the disabled, and the elderly. I don't believe that Dean Foods or Prairie Farms need government assistance as much as families living at the margins.

Finally, I wish I had a dollar for every time Luetkemeyer bemoans the plight of small business. While these squeaky wheels get plenty of grease folks that work two jobs to stay afloat and still don't have health care are thrown under the bus. I guess they don't count. It's time for Luetkemeyer's permanent furlough!