To the editor:
Elections are supposed to have consequences.
Last year, President Obama, Gov. Jay Inslee and the Democrats put forward a vision of an America stating “we are all in this together,” we all pay our fair share and we create jobs and grow the economy by investing in things like education, the working class and infrastructure.
Romney, McKenna and the Republicans offered a vision of an America where we reward individual success and create jobs and grow the economy by reducing regulations and lowering taxes.
Two very clear, but very different, visions for the future of our state and nation.
In November, the American people made a resounding choice. We chose Democrats for the White House, the United States Senate, the governor’s office, the state House, and state Senate, which two turncoat senators then decided to hand over to the Republicans.
Yet, since November, the Republicans have acted like their vision for America won and are sticking to their playbook on issue after issue, regardless of the clearly expressed will of the electorate.
On the campaign trail, many Washington state Republicans said they could fully fund education without raising taxes or cutting state services, through “efficiencies” and “cutting the waste, fraud and abuse” of government.
Recently the now-Republican-controlled state Senate put out a budget that fails to fully fund education and cuts important programs anyway.
Either they couldn’t find any significant waste, fraud and abuse, or it was never there to begin with.
It’s time to move forward.
We need to end the sequester, throw out the Republican budget, promote clean energy, respect working families, close tax loopholes, ask the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share, and make responsible use of tax dollars to create jobs and grow the economy by investing in our infrastructure and fully funding Washington’s education system.
Our now-divided state Legislature, and I’ll remind you, divided by the politicians, not by the voters, recently started a special session because it couldn’t get the job done during regular session. Apparently, they need the citizens who elected them to remind them which future it was that we decided on last year.
I encourage everyone to call, write or email your elected officials and let them know that you are ready for Washington state to move forward, and ready for America to live up to the vision presented by the Democrats, and endorsed by the American people.
Tom Riggs
Camano Island
