Tightening belts would unify country

I was talking to my 80-some-year-old mother yesterday, and we began to discuss what life was like in her generation, when money was tight and there weren't all the social nets to catch those that fell through the cracks. She told me of all the usual Depression-era things, like having one pair of new shoes in the fall, saving what little was left every week in a jar, and how her mother took in laundry to stretch the family budget. Those stark winters in the Upper Peninsula were cruel and hardships abounded. Then she looked at me and said quite honestly, "We didn't have anything, but we were happy enough, and had more than some. We played outside all year, made do with what we had and that was the way it was. People helped each other out."

I'd like to encourage everyone, especially our children, to sit down and talk to their parents, grandparents and great grandparents who remember having just one savings account for that rainy day. The people who weren't counting on the Dow Jones 500, a fat pension or massive government handouts. I in no way profess that those days were golden, they were not. But people were more self-sufficient and relied upon themselves and hard work to get ahead. Tough luck was just that, and it was horrible at times. Our government never saved for a rainy day. When they had a good pile of coal to get through the winter, they sold it off to pay for yet another entitlement, another program, another grab for either power or votes. Well, that coal pile is now a deep crater, and we are deep in the throes of a vicious winter that will not end until this nonsense stops. Our government will have to find a way to fill the coal hole (as my mother referred to it), add to it and quit spending massive amounts of money that often cannot be accounted for. Greed, corruption and selfishness abound. Tough times are not over by a long shot, and people are suffering, yet our government will not adhere to a balanced budget like the rest of us, just ask those who have lost their homes.

The health care debate will provide reform, which is badly needed. I have but one question about the 30 million uninsured. You can't squeeze milk from a lemon, so how are these, the American poor, going to be forced to pay for it? How can they? What will change? Jail time for non-payers? How does this address illegal immigrants? We will still be treating folks at hospital emergency rooms who cannot or will not pay for insurance? Real hard reform comes by opening the door to buying insurance from any reliable company in this nation, opening free competition. That's not happening. More hard reform comes from legal reform. Find the waste in Medicare and Medicaid! Prosecute the cheaters! More good doctors are needed, but they must be free from the fear of frivolous lawsuits. I trust enough in our jury system to know that justifiable lawsuits will be resolved, and fairly. Real reform comes from fixing what we have, not going off on some tangent that is risky to the health of our economy and the United States as a whole.

Sometimes it feels like we, the people, are being asked to put that coal back a bricklet at a time just to see it sucked up in the sinkhole called Washington. This must end. Democrats and Republicans who cannot serve the people must be replaced by those who can. It's a lot easier to knock down an old, failing house than to repair it, but it sure costs more money.

Shame on our lawmakers. Tighten your belt, D.C., like the rest of us. You will find that this country will come alive with fresh enthusiasm if you would be the beacon and shine the light, not put fire hoses to it.

Cindy Seng

Libertyville