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Samples of letters to the editor
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5. Always include your daytime phone number, as papers will call you
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Budget & Social Security (August 23, 2001)
With Congress readying to resume the business of passing spending bills for the next year, the issues of tax cuts, spending and Social Security are back on the front pages.
President Bush has kept his promises. He signed the largest tax cut in a generation to provide relief to families and our economy and he negotiated a bi-partisan budget that strengthens our defense, provides more for education, and protects the Social Security surplus.
Democrats are back to their old tricks, advocating more spending, fewer tax cuts, and scaring senior citizens.
The President needs your help to get out the facts. Please review the following sample letters to the editor and consider sending one like it into your local papers, or use the letters as talking points and write your own.
President Bush needs our support in forcing Congress to live up to the budget it passed this summer. The President kept his promises, now he needs your help to make sure Congress keeps its commitment.
Letter #1
Let me get this straight. The economy has been slowing since last year, family incomes are being stretched and companies like Ford are trimming their workforce.
President Bush gives us a tax break to put more money into the economy, and now Democrats are complaining because the budget surplus is only going to be $170 billion! What are they complaining about?
President Bush should be commended for helping families and our economy. Yet Democrats are at it again, trying to keep more and more of our money in Washington. This should be a wake up call to Democrats in Washington. The surplus is the result of hard working American men and women, not the government. When we are struggling, give some of it back!
Letter #2
Why are Democrats talking about raising taxes again? The economy has slowed down, yet many prominent Democrats are actually talking about repealing President Bush's tax cut! That doesn't make any sense.
With families worried about lay-offs, smaller commissions, less over-time and long gone days of bonuses from the automotive industry, the last thing we need is Washington coming to take a bite out of a shrinking pie.
President Bush did the right thing in providing tax relief to keep the economy from getting worse. If Democrats succeed in raising taxes, our economy is sure to go in the clink.
Letter #3
I find it incredibly ironic that Democratic leaders like Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle are attacking President Bush on the issue of Social Security.
President Bush's budget protects Social Security, and provides tax relief. Does anyone remember what things were like when the Democrats controlled the show in Congress? Taxes were raised again and again, and yet we still ran deficits thanks to their unending appetites for spending. When Democrats were in charge, they raided the Social Security trust fund 25 different years!
I put considerably more trust in President Bush than I do Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle. They had their chance, and they proved that they were reckless with our Social Security system.
There is an old saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
Letter # 4
I think the media has done a tremendous disservice in downplaying the number of problems President Bush inherited from former President Clinton. When Bush took office, the economy was slowing, energy prices were skyrocketing, taxes were high and our military was suffering from years and years of under funding.
President Bush has had to make difficult decisions, but he has kept his promise to the American people. He cut taxes and pumped money back into the economy, he has worked to lower energy prices and has begun to rebuild our crumbling defenses. He has accomplished all of this without taking us back into debt, and without dipping into the Social Security surplus.
President Bush has shown true leadership in solving our nation's problems, and he deserves more support and less criticism from Democrats in Congress. I hope Senators Stabenow and Levin will wake up and support the President's plan to keep our economy and our military strong.
Letter #5
I find it hard to understand the rationale among the Democrats in Washington these days. The government is running a surplus of over $170 billion dollars, and that's after the Bush tax cut. I can't understand why Democrats like Senators Stabenow and Levin complaining. Is their goal to keep more and more of our money in Washington?
A $170 billion dollar surplus is enough for Washington. The last thing we need to be doing is taking more and more money out of main street, and sending it to Washington. This will only make our economic slowdown worse. The President was right to provide tax relief to American families, and I hope Stabenow and Levin will realize that the people of Michigan needed tax relief, not bigger government surpluses.
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