Guest Opinion: An Open Letter to President Obama
An Open Letter to President Obama
February 9, 2009
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for coming to Fort Myers to visit our community and for taking the time to listen to the people.
I am certain people will want to express to you their concerns, just as they do with me when I see them around town, and through their hundreds of phone calls, emails and letters.
The people of Southwest Florida recognize that we are facing real challenges. And they are willing to join together and to help one another. They want real solutions to the economic problems we face. But they have grave concerns about the present “stimulus” legislation being advocated in Washington.
The people are telling me that this plan uses far too much money to fund earmarks, pork-driven projects and liberal social planning programs. They simply don’t want their tax dollars being used to create new government programs that won’t help spark the economy.
Instead, the people are telling me they want a stimulus plan that will actually help create real jobs at good wages for the people who need them and need them now.
Increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, escalating union power, and expanding Pell grants won’t stimulate our economy and won’t create real jobs, and the people know it.
Turning around our economy and creating good jobs quickly can only be achieved through common sense policies that will provide the private sector with the incentives and confidence it needs to invest and grow.
History has proven that we can’t spend our way to prosperity. Our children and grandchildren deserve better than to inherit a future of more government, more spending and more debt.
Mr. President, the people of Southwest Florida want you to hear them clearly. They want Washington to act appropriately. They want Washington to unleash our economy’s full potential so that businesses grow and thrive, and so that people can work, save for their futures and pursue their dreams.
Mr. President, listen to the people. Take their message to heart. And let us go down the road to economic prosperity through less taxing, less spending, less government and more freedom.
Sincerely,
CONNIE MACK
Member of Congress