| Dear George:
I'm watching this political season with a bit of dismay. We're in an era which faces several serious national challenges: a bankrupt public retirement system, aging/inefficient transportation infrastructure, excessive middle class taxation, inefficient/unaccountable government administration, a less-than-cost effective health care system, declining urban air quality....not to mention a host of international affairs. Our boomer generation is stepping up to the helm and all I hear is the same empty rhetoric from both political camps...over-financed campaigns with so little said. Hey Governor Bush, instead of watching as Gore parlays his media momentum, isn't it about time we heard some serious solutions from you? Whadaya say about giving us some tangibles? As a start.... what about a real audit of the government for fiscal year 2000? All I hear from Mr.Gore is how he's gonna reinvest the "surplus". Shouldn't that be surplus cash flow? We're acutely aware of the capital gains surge that hit the tax coffers during the Clinton/Gore years, but surplus? .....naah, I'm not buyin' it anymore. I've got enough business experience to smell a rat in the figures and this common citizen would like some real numbers. Couldn't we send in the best bean counters from the big tax accounting firms and put them to work on getting us some figures we can trust? Is it too much to ask for an unbiased assessment or our national assets, liabilities, income & cash flow? Dwight Eisenhower spear-headed the Interstate Highway system and John Kennedy got us to the moon; how's about Bush/Cheney tackling some long term solutions to national transportation? We've got so many vehicles on a system that was conceived 50 years ago and we can't pave fast enough. What's up with tossing 14 billion of our money to Boston for the "Big Dig"? Isn't it time to consider an comprehensive high-speed rail system to get planes out of the sky, big rigs off the highways, and fewer cars on the existing arteries ... perhaps ... a kinder-gentler transit system? Hey, 'might even open up some long-term economic opportunities, who knows? I think Mrs. Clinton was right about a health care crisis...she just didn't have a good solution. As a beginning, why not consider eliminating the excessive fees taken by the insurance middlemen and trial lawyers? A tax-free public investment pool would be a good beginning: real tax free medical saving accounts. Why is it that the guy with no employment bennies has to pay mostly with after-tax dollars? And, why must the business of healing be so profitable for the folks who market and administer the system? Am I the only one nauseated by expensive TV spots for prescription drugs, knowing all the while that it boosts my insurance and medicare tax bills? What about diet, exercise and meditation rather than subsidized, over-marketed, over-prescribed Pheno-fix-it-all? Just where are all the Medicare dollars going these days and what are the specifics of your reform package? Brokaw, Dateline and 60 Minutes are constantly reminding us of the fleecings of America, but when are we going to take some action to put an end to it? How many more examples of squander must we endure before someone we elect takes the bull by the horns to oust the major league mismanagers? George, we know you and Mr. Cheney can do it. While we applaud your presidential concern for national defense, unfortunately the common citizens are more concerned with what touches our lives directly. Yes education is important, and so is the economy....but really Mr. Bush....are these the tasks that you and the federal bureaucracy should be messing with? Governor, we know you've got more to tell us. The Olympics are on but
the clock's still ticking and we're anxiously awaiting. Hey, why
don't you and Mr.Cheney accept Maria Pope's invitation from David Letterman?
dbs
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