The Ellis County Press: Letters to the Editor: The last 28 years

Letters to the Editor: The last 28 years
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Editor on 01/12/2012 12:13:00


Have you noticed the direction of the state of the union in the last 28 years?
Are you happy with that direction? Are we better off as a nation than we were
back in 1984?
1984 was at the climax of the Cold War; the year Ronald Reagan was re-elected in
a 49 state landslide against Walter Mondale; Texas’ Congressional District 6
and Ellis County got a brand new Representative to the U.S. House. 35-year-old
Joe Linus Barton won election and replaced the former democrat Phil Gramm as
Ellis County’s newest Member of Congress.
I offer just a few of the changes in America in the last 28 years…
The first-term Congressman’s starting salary in 1985 was over $75,000; while
in 2012, the same Member of Congress gets almost $175,000 (before benefits).
The median income of the American worker when Joe Barton started his career in
Washington was about $28,000, and today the median income of Americans is about
$49,000. Do you see the difference?
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan was rebuilding the U.S. Military after the
malaise of the Carter Administration; the American vision of “Peace through
Strength” meant a build up of our forces through military spending.
The Budget in 1984-5 was $851,805,000,000 with a record breaking $185 billion
deficit.
The ‘estimated’ deficit for 2012 is more than 1.1 trillion dollars, with a
total spending of $3.728 trillion.
In the year 1984, the National Debt was at a record $1,572,266,000,000!
Do you remember the howling of the Media about that?
Today our collective debt soars more than $15 Trillion; nearly 10 times more!!
Where is the outrage today?
The year Joe Barton took the Oath to defend the Constitution for the first time,
each American’s portion of the Debt was $6834, an all-time record; now, in his
13th Term, Americans’ are burdened with a debt of over $48,500 each.
I am a 30-year resident of Ellis County, and as I see it, our Representative,
and Member of Congress, the Honorable Joe Barton has not been very effective in
countering the dismal direction of debt and growth of the federal government,
and the continued growing liability on “We the People” and our Posterity.
What has our Representative done to protect us from the tyranny of an out-of
control government?
Who will fight for us and our kids and grandkids? I do not believe it will be
Joe Barton.
It is time for good old Joe to go quietly into the night, and be replaced by a
citizen candidate/ legislator. Who will step up??
Bill Carson
Midlothian