Our country is running the biggest deficit in its history and we've had to turn to China to borrow most of the money we've needed to fight these wars. And, in exchange, we're letting them do most of the manufacturing jobs we once had.

American car companies are no longer among the top three -- Japanese car companies are. We've been losing the manufacturing edge to Asia because our politicians don't seem to know how to restore our competitive edge.

I've always paid my fair share of taxes ... something that middle-class Americans have always had to do. It's understandable that the poor can't ... but it's certainly incomprehensible that the rich don't have to pay their fair share.

For decades, most elected to political office have been sitting on their butts, doing nothing but padding their own pockets and remaining silent while our democracy is being hijacked. Why aren't they publicly acknowledging that it's the high gas prices - fueled by Mobil/Exxon and owned by Iran - that are financing the terrorists who are killing our troops?

Those of us who experienced tougher times ... i.e. the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War ... learned one thing: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.

It's time for all “Americans to come to the aid of their country!” In the past, when times were tough, wages were frozen, hirings curtailed and unions made no demands. Finding ways to also stop wasting taxpayers' money has to be a No. 1 priority. This also includes unions stepping aside so that elected officials can lay off the hundreds of state and federal government employees who really aren't needed.

Joyce Hackett Smith-Moore

Moravia