Put aside politics

For months the “leaders” of the 112th Congress have run us toward a cliff. That cliff is the destruction of our economy and what is left of the middle class. No one in the GOP leadership of Congress seems interested in acknowledging that if we don’t increase the debt limit we will see a fiscal disaster equivalent to the Crash of ’29. And, it appears that the far right of the GOP simply doesn’t care!

The tea party Republicans – and to be fair, a certain number of conservative Democrats – are all agog about a government shutdown. The voters just don’t understand the magnitude of this coming disaster. Let me say this – the minute that the first Social Security check doesn’t hit that mailbox, or that first military retirement or disability check doesn’t appear in your account you may begin to understand what has happened. There’s an old saw about being careful of what you wish for – you might just get it.

It is way past time for politics and time to start working on governance. They went to Washington, D.C., to fix things. They must put aside politics and work for the long term good of the country.

Gil Beyer

Sandpoint