In response to James Montgomery and Angela Johnson, I agree with you — partially. Yes, no one really expects President Barack Obama to have completely fixed the problems of this country in the 2 1/2 years he has been acting as president (notice I said acting) but what we do expect is for him to have made strides in the right direction.

True, the country was headed downhill when he took office, but he has done nothing to reverse this, rather he has taken giant leaps to do everything to speed it up. Since he has been in office, the national debt has doubled.

How can you think that raising taxes and not cutting spending is the answer? It is unfathomable to think that would work to reverse the national debt. The problem is government spending. Why did Standard and Poor’s downgrade the U.S.? Too much spending. They didn’t mention anything about not enough tax increases, or not enough revenue increases, yet you Democrats constantly blame the Tea Party and the Republicans. It is the Democrats who were against spending cuts, which the S&P has said was the reason for the downgrade.

Try this: Rather than raising taxes on the wealthy, first let’s try to collect taxes from the 51 percent of the people who don’t pay any taxes. How can you think it is conceivable to raise taxes more on the few folks who are paying taxes, while still allowing more than half of the people to pay nothing? Is it fair for rich people to have to pay more because they have proved themselves successful and for you to pay less because you have proved yourself unsuccessful?

According to the Democrats, yes that is fair simply because they can afford to pay more. That is bull. The problem with the Democrats is that their voter base comprises the vast majority of the 51 percent who don’t pay any taxes and continue to freeload off the backs of the, mainly Republicans, who do work. Democrats know this and will not do anything to fix the problem because they will lose their voter base.

Understand that the 49 percent of Americans paying taxes are tired of paying for the other 51 percent, who pay nothing.

Jeremy Stokes

Kabul, Afghanistan