Balance the budget

Sue Bower,

Jefferson City

Dear Editor,

What do we want from our leaders? Integrity? A conscience? A strong value system? Someone who wants what I want? Someone who will compromise and make deals that will benefit my company/family even if the other side’s acquiesced-to share hurts others?

Have we become a nation of “ask … what your country can do for us”? Or do we want a strong free country and “ask what we can do for our country?”

Is there no person, branch of government, law enforcement agency, Secret Service leader, military leader, parent, governor, election official who actually puts ethics, honesty and truthfulness first and foremost in his list of “must haves” for a president/citizen/leader/teacher/ priest/parent?

It seems the Secret Service “lost” records. Oh well, Hillary lost records; Trump lost records; the Pope didn’t disclose wrongs; companies maintain secrets; families and schools and everyone has secrets. We are all smart enough to know that when records – especially of important people — are lost, they are “lost” for a reason. We should be suspicious of all such “disappearances/losses,” not just those that “happen” to those we oppose for one reason or another.

We pass legislation containing pieces of “pet” legislation for this senator or that congressman, projects that the congressional voters don’t even know is in the legislation they pass. “I’ll vote yes if you give me what I want for my district/state.” Isn’t this called “graft?”

I want a leader who will say and mean “enough is enough.” We are over our heels in debt. We have to stop printing paper money that will soon become worthless. I called our congressman’s office about balancing the budget. I was told his view — and I’m paraphrasing — he would vote to increase a measure by only a half-billion dollars instead of one billion dollars. That is not cutting the deficit. It is time for hard decisions. Manchin tried, but he gave in or was misinformed about the contents of the bill he voted for.

Enough is enough. We have got to stop all this spending. Families need to take care of families. People need to get back to work, with appreciation for a job and dedication to it! We need a list of priorities, nationwide and statewide and citywide. We cannot accomplish all things at once. I hope our newly elected leaders have the guts to stand strong and put this national financial need first: Balance the budget.