Letter: Ask not what GOP can do for you

It caught me off guard for someone to ask what the GOP has done for average working people. I took President Kennedy seriously when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

But here we have R. Buckley asking what else the government can do. Well, I reject the premise that the GOP, or the legislative branch in general, should be judged by what it does for average working people.

I believe it should be judged by how well it carries out its constitutional mandates.

Consider that pesky Constitution. It defines the short list of things the legislature is supposed to do. Operating the military, coining money, and collecting taxes are examples.

Nothing there about giving benefits to average working people. As an average working person, I appreciate the opportunities of freedom and liberty.

I don't depend on or seek more "benefits" offered by politicians attracting the votes of the able-bodied helpless.

I know. That sounds kooky anymore. So I'll respond to R. Buckley's bizarre challenge to "tell us one thing the GOP has done for average working people."

I wish the "us" to whom R. Buckley refers was a small group looking for more and more benefits from government. The right side of the legislature reformed welfare -- that's good for average working people.

The right side cut taxes -- that's good for average working people paying 40 percent of their wages to governments.

And the right side supported the concept that our leaders be subject to the same laws as average working people. R. Buckley calls that an "inquisition."

David Dickens

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