Republicans fail to support community

A July 6 letter (Robert Bulmahn) commented on the two unpaid-for wars. Actually they were paid for, but with borrowed money. No “commander-in-chief” in history has cut taxes while fighting a war. What was George Bush thinking of? Perhaps a strategy to win in 2004 the popular vote that eluded him in 2000? It did not bring us jobs - fewer were created during his administration than at any time in recent decades.

And now that the bills are coming due, Republicans still do not want to pay them except by cutting services to the disadvantaged members of our society. We talk about “the American dream” of making a better life for myself and my children. Me, myself and I - it's about individual aggrandizement. “Freedom” seems to mean the freedom to make as much money as I can and keep as much of it as possible. Supporting the community, the society in which we live, figures very little.

And certainly it has nothing to do with the Christian Gospel's emphasis on support of the poor and the sick.

Democrats seem to be outgrowing this childish greed and adolescent self-concern, as Europeans did long ago, thanks perhaps to the succession of devastating wars that destroyed their possessions and left only their people, whom they now properly value. Yet the polls show that even most Republicans agree with taxing the wealthy and the corporations. So is the problem the legislators and their corporate owners? We need a change in 2012.

Joan O. Falconer

Iowa City