Letters: Politics before country
Re “Federal budget talks make little progress,” Oct. 14
There’s one obvious fact that no one appears to be acknowledging: If a Republican were president, none of this dangerous nonsense would be happening.
Under a Republican administration, no GOP lawmakers would question raising the debt ceiling. It would be approved routinely, as it was under Reagan and both Bushes. And if it were a Republican president having the guts and imagination to try to address America’s shamefully uneven access to healthcare, Republicans would be all for it. It goes without saying we would not be suffering through a protracted government shutdown.
Current Republican tactics are driven purely by the tea party’s animus toward President Obama. It is willing to throw the whole country under the bus just to oppose him, regardless of the consequences.
Ultimately the Republicans will fail, but it will be a crying shame if they take us all down with them.
Barbara Carlton
El Cajon
Holding America’s creditworthiness hostage to the GOP-controlled House’s desire to defund Obamacare has resulted in a congressional approval rating of 11%. Now the Republicans are crying that the Democrats are trying to humiliate them because they can’t get their way.
Isn’t that like the schoolyard bully crying “no fair” because he was losing the fight he started?
Marcy Bregman
Agoura Hills
Thank God the Republican tea party wasn’t around in 1955.
Why? It would have called opening day at Disneyland a train wreck and reason enough to shut the park down. On that day in July 1955, Disneyland ran out of food, the water fountains weren’t working and several rides broke down. Plus, someone counterfeited thousands of tickets for opening day. As a result, the place was packed.
Likewise, the rollout of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges experienced problems. Today, Disneyland is a smoothly run attraction. Affordable healthcare can be too, if the Republicans quit being saboteurs and decide to be part of the solution.
Norm Wilkinson
Whittier
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