GOVERNMENT
Handouts take away incentive to achieve
Talk about hitting the nail on the head. Thomas Sowell’s column on entitlement was dead on (“Entitlement is a fancy word for dependency,” Opinion, May 31).
If there is one issue that is dragging this country down financially and mentally, it is the government’s trying to be all things to all people. It is creating a society of people feeling that they are owed a dependency, which in turn causes a lack of work ethic — which will be the downfall of this country.
People from all over the world come to America for opportunities, but those who are here have become dependents of government programs that started out as being help for the less fortunate. Those same people become conditioned to do less, and depend more.
Cut out all of the entitlements, and you will develop a society that will change priorities from a “give-me” state, to one of “what I must do to survive.” It is a fact that the more you give someone, the more they want and expect. Lee Baker, Lilburn
TAXES
Renters pay fair share to county school system
In “Cherokee prepares education tax vote” (Metro, May 31), Superintendent Frank Petruzielo claimed that “a sales tax is a far more responsible way to cover” education expenses because those who rent have no real property taxes to pay.
Does he expect us to believe that the landlords benevolently eat such costs? As with any business, operational costs are passed on to their customers, in this case, in the form of higher rent. So despite his claim, renters participate equally in higher property taxes (even if it is indirectly). And if Superintendent Petruzielo were really worried about fairness, he wouldn’t be so eager to stick it to the county’s visitors — who reap no benefit from the educational system. Scott R. Miller, Roswell
POLITICS
Elected officials should work for, not against, us
It’s still early, but the field of candidates for the 2012 election is already troubling. The GOP has shown that it has no interest in governing this country. Their fear-mongering and corporate fealty result in behavior designed to keep them in office; the rich, more wealthy; and industry on top.
The tea party candidates are so woeful that it would be laughable (if the prospects of any of them being elected weren’t so frightening).
My biggest issue lies with President Barack Obama. He has continued (and in some cases, expanded) Bush-era theories and destructive policies. Despite worthy accomplishments on other fronts, these actions made Obama a defender of the status quo, rather than the true agent of change that I and others once believed him to be.
We need politicians with the goal of making life better for the citizens of this country, rather than amassing power. Abraham Lincoln’s notion that “government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth” is relevant today. It is our responsibility to preserve it by electing politicians who will work for us, rather than against us.
David Leedle, Atlanta
