If pols could agree to work together

For the first 124 years the government operated on funds generated by tariffs from countries bringing products into our country, covering all national expense including three wars.

In 1912, the three presidential candidates Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson and their parties proposed the amendment to "to turn on the funding faucet" known as the 16th Amendment creating Federal Income Tax. To date these funds partially covered all kinds of government programs and expansion but left us with a national debt of $20 trillion.

Similar to our state of Illinois, federal government expansion and programs cannot be maintained without additional debt or taxes. If we had a choice, we would like to spend our own money like before the 16th Amendment and have the government be responsible for reduced controls.

However, this is not practical, maintaining all the current programs and operational expenses. We would be moving forward (slowly) if politicians could agree to work together as they did when the amendment passed in stabilizing and reducing expenses along with government controls. It would also generate more confidence in our investment in the government along with the politicians' ability to handle the responsibility.

Mike Krauss

Wayne