Letter to the Editor: It's Time to Demand Bipartisan Action in Congress

To the Editor, 

The morning after the election came as an aftermath of political division; a hurricane of political infighting and obstructionism; of ideology over progress. We as a nation have cast our votes, our president is firmly in place for four more years, and we have a new Congress to lead us into the next phase of policy and practice. Let the election outcome not serve as a message to Candice Miller that Michigan approved of her partisan obstructionism in Congress of the last four years. Nor let it serve as a green light for future obstruction. Let’s call upon Rep. Miller to reach across the aisle and work hand in hand with her colleagues in Congress create real solutions to the problems facing our beloved nation and state. 

It’s a new beginning; a new chance to make real progress toward creating the environment in which businesses thrive and in which unemployment reaches all-time lows. Congress can accomplish this by putting more money in the middle-class pocket. The middle class drives the economy. They make the vast majority of purchases, which in turn creates demand, which creates job opportunity. The old trickle-down method has failed time and again. It’s time to embrace the reality of a thriving middle class’s buying power. It’s time to embrace education to ensure America stays a force to be reckoned with; that we can remain competitive; in which we remain the creative force in new innovations in technology, science, and medicine. We can no longer afford to put our children on the back burner or cut costs in education.

With 1,700 new billionaires created in America in recent years, according to the US Dept. of Treasury, and their $5 trillion combined net worth, it’s time to demand that those who “have” pay more than those who “have not.” There is no need to make deep cuts in vital programs when millionaires and billionaires thrive with money invested offshore rather than putting the money back into our economy. America made them wealthy. It’s time they return the favor. 

It’s time to embrace clean energy, not just for “job creation,” but for the reality that global warning must be stopped; that clean air and water are necessities for life on earth; that we have a duty as custodians of our planet to maintain an environment which can sustain the 7 billion people living upon it without destroying it. In the next four years, we must not sit idly by and allow our representatives in Congress to sit on their hands for party obstructionism. We must be vocal and demand they do their jobs. And let them know we are watching them. Get the job done. This means Candice Miller, too. 

Sincerely, 

Connie Cuellar, Macomb

Letters to the editor should be emailed to jenny.whalen@patch.com. Writers must include their full name and city of residence.