U.S. athletes set an example

U.S. athletes set an example

I would like to commend all the American athletes who performed so well during the 2012 Olympics held in London, England. Not only did they show great athletic ability but they did so in a way that brought pride to all of us sitting back here in the States cheering them on.

But, aside from the over 100 gold, silver, and bronze medals won, they gave the American people an important message that we should not miss. That message is: we don’t need our government interfering with our daily lives in order for us to succeed. These athletes achieved their goals through hard work, dedication and desire. They didn’t have government handouts, intervention by politicians or taxpayers footing the bill for their experience.

Each and every one of them had a dream to compete and be successful. Each and ever one them knew if they failed it was because someone else did the same thing they did, only a little better.

Each and every one of them set a lofty goal and even if it wasn’t achieved, they were a better person for trying.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all Americans tried that hard in their daily lives? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we didn’t want or need government intervention to successful? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we would accept the mistakes made, instead of blaming others for our failures? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we quit blaming those who have worked hard for what they have when we haven’t even tried to achieve our best?

If each of us every day put forth even half of the effort those American athletes displayed, our country could eliminate our welfare rolls, unemployment lines and our outrageous debt. But, the odds of that happening are pretty slim. There are too many in this country with an attitude of, “Why go for the gold when I can just wait for the check in the mail?”

Ted Montgomery, Poland

Killers get too many benefits

The sixth Amendment to the Constitution states that the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial. Does this also mean that if the accused and his defense lawyers don’t want a speedy trial that they can drag it out for years? That’s how they look at it, and knowing that they are defending a low life scumbag like James Holmes doesn’t bother them a bit.

If James Holmes gets the death penalty, (which by the way should be guaranteed) he will have lived off of the taxpayers of Colorado enjoying three meals a day, free health care, free dental, library privileges, etc., for 20 to 25 years before he is executed.

It’s a shame when the judicial system forgets about the victims and their families and concentrates on the low lifes who commit these despicable acts.

Bud McKelvey, Hermitage, Pa.

It’s broke; we have to fix it

So far this election season, the greatest truth to be revealed is that our governments, from Congress to local city councils, are broken. Their members do their work secretly wherever possible; they live in a different world, from influence, pay, power and pensions, than do the rest of us and they don’t have any interest in changing that.

Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal are just camouflage suits for the intention shared by all elected officials —they mean to rule and the Devil take the hind parts of the rest of us.

We should not confuse “leading” with “ruling” as they couldn’t be more different states. Leaders share the hardships of those they lead, like George Washington at Valley Forge. Rulers tend more to the “let them eat cake” position of Marie Antoinette toward her starving subjects. Leaders will fight for what they believe to be right while accepting that their view may need to be tempered for progress to result, like Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address. Fidel Castro never spoke for less than two hours and his rants never did anything except consolidate his own rule.

Elected members of Congress (and lesser officials), seem to operate under the notion that they rule. It is the right and the duty of the electorate to disabuse them of this bogus notion. “Tossing the bums out,” won’t work. Better we should place constraints on the way officials work — pay subject to market demand and inflation instead of late night votes and obscure earmarks mandating raises would be a good start.

Pensions and health care heavily dependent on Social Security, might also help. And, while we are at it, let’s demand that a bill be about a single subject and all other earmarks be deleted. Furthermore, let’s have a box score for elected officials who can then use their franking privilege or just email their constituents their record. That way we could form a clear opinion of their value based on more than outrageous election year rhetoric or the way they comb their hair.

Jim Cartwright, Canfield

Ryan’s idol had feet of clay

Republican VP pick Paul Ryan is a disciple of writer Ayn Rand, a real piece of work who thought “survival of the fittest” and everybody for themselves was the way to run a society. Of course, Rand in her later years had health problems and received the Medicare payments she earlier denounced. Ironically, Ryan, if elected with Romney, would immediately work to blow up Medicare.

Also, Ryan and Rand believe everyone should succeed on their own, you know, the bootstrap approach. Ryan’s family has dominated his hometown of Janesville, Wis.. (like a Butler or Wick in Youngstown) for generations. His first campaign for Congress featured Ryan in a TV commercial walking past his family’s tombstones to reinforce how the then 28-year-old deserved a vote based on his family connections. I love how guys like Ryan and Bush who were born on third base think they did it all by themselves.

So vote Republican. You don’t need Medicare, or Social Security, or help for college. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps and do it all by yourself — just like Romney and Ryan.

Bill Adams, Austintown

There are questions worth asking

Recently state Rep. Robert F. Hagan had a news conference in downtown Youngstown and called on Mitt Romney to release more of his tax returns. I would like to ask Rep. Hagan why we are paying almost $4 a gallon for gasoline in our Valley, which is almost the highest in the nation. Rep. Hagan should also ask Congressman Tim Ryan and Sen. Sherrod Brown to quit using our farm products such as corn to produce ethanol, which is keeping our food prices high. These are reasonable questions.

Also I would like to ask when it became a crime to be rich in our country. Most people come here from all different parts of the world, work hard, take risks, get a good education and as long as they earn more money legally and pay taxes, that is what America is.

Rich people also do good deeds. We had a rich man in our Valley in 1891 who bought a tract of land in Youngstown, went to the state legislature and had this turned into a park for our future generations. It’s called “Mill Creek Metropolitan Park,” the second largest park in the nation. So thank Mr. Volney Rogers for giving us this beautiful park to enjoy.

A lot of these folks are doers and not talkers. Which one is Rep. Hagan, with all due respect?

Paul DiTulli, Canfield