OPINION:
Politicians - including President Obama - use catchphrases to justify pushing their pet spending projects. The latest such phrase being bantered around is that we must “level the playing field.” Nothing is said about how it is applied and how it will work.
Our country has a diversified population of many nationalities and cultures. There are the young and old, some educated to varying degrees and others not educated, some disabled and some not and some rich and some poor. With such extensive diversity, what does “level the playing field” really mean?
It seems to me that our country has become the greatest in the world because of hard work, ingenuity, determination and persistence on the part of our people. The government is not the entity to lead the way. Usually when it steps in to “level the playing field,” bigger problems develop.
For example, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae helped cause the housing collapse that led to the current economic disaster. Medicare and Medicaid are about to go broke, placing many at health risk, and offshore oil drilling was stopped, creating greater dependence on foreign oil and driving up gasoline prices to more than $3 a gallon and increasing. That gasoline price increase also increased transportation costs for groceries and other essential goods, placing a financial burden on all U.S. residents, including those who barely scrape by.
The politicians should stop using cliches and phrases in attempts to justify spending and let the people’s competitive spirit, ingenuity and drive do what they do best to move our country forward. It has worked well in the past, and it could work now.
FRANK MEDICO
Mount Vernon, Va.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.