Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

September 28, 2012

Letters to the Editor: 09/28/2012

----

Voters want honesty

What do swing voters want? For starters, honesty, common sense, and vision that goes beyond the next election. For example:

- Instead of spending trillions on oil wars and getting the whole world angry with us, rethink foreign policy. We didn't like being colonized; other countries don't like it, either.

- Instead of spending trillions destroying the earth by fracking, drilling, and blowing tops off mountains for fossil fuels, build 100 miles of mirrors (10,000 square miles) in the deserts for solar thermal energy production. This would provide more energy than the whole country currently uses.

- Instead of spending billions on influence peddling, put people to work building high-speed rails, advancing fuel cell technology and rebuilding the infrastructure. Swing voters would find these more useful than "influence."

- Instead of spending billions lobbying to cut Social Security and Medicare, use the money to keep these programs viable. They do not contribute to the deficit. They are not "entitlements." Social Security is deferred earnings and Medicare is insurance paid for by premiums.

- Instead of treating corporations like people and people like commodities, realize that people vote. Corporations don't.

Celia M. Hastings

Ellsworth

Text Only

Opinion Poll

AP Video
Raw: Widespread Destruction in Moore, Okla. Raw: Massive Funnel Clouds in Oklahoma Raw: Japan's WWII Atrocities Under Fire in Seoul Voters Could Elect LA's First Female Mayor Huge Tornado Kills Dozens Near Oklahoma City Raw: Rescuers Pull Tornado Survivors to Safety Oklahoma Gov: 'Hearts Are Broken' After Tornado Raw: Walking in a Flattened Okla. Neighborhood Raw: Rescue Workers Search Oklahoma School Raw: Witness Describes Scene After Okla. Tornado Raw: Aftermath of Massive Tornado in Oklahoma Raw: House Burns After Massive Oklahoma Tornado Raw: Tornado on the Ground in Oklahoma Split-second Choice Ended With NY Student Dead White House Backs 'Shield Law' for Media Wave of Attacks Kills Scores in Iraq Pug Life on Display at Wisconsin Festival Company Promises to Make All Snail Mail Digital Analyst: Tumblr Fills Void in Yahoo's Offerings