Letter To The Editor

Dear Readers;

The last time we spoke, was on the subject of respect, at least in some parts. The respect our children are not being shown by parents and the respect they do not display to others as well. However, I'm not trying to make parents the total culprit in this lack of respect. Yes, it is our job to teach when and how to show respect and to show it in return when it is earned. But, it should also be foremost in the people who represent us at the county, state, and national levels of government. How can we teach respect to our children, when they do not see us show respect , nor or we shown respect by those people who represent us as a country.

Recently, we were told of how our state government voted to give our teachers a $2000 raise in pay. Ask any teacher you know, to show you the extra money on the check they recieve and what has been subtreacted from our teachers in the past 2 years in pay and benefits. Do this, then ask our elected officials why they lie to us from our state capitol. In the news every day, we are shown and told of how our young men and women are killed in a foreign land where they were sent to fight a war that was started on lies told by our national government and by our leaders from our nations capitol.

Ask your child who wants to start a business of his/her own fresh out of school with no means of financing it on his own, how he plans to get help. He may say the Small Business Administration has loans and grants available to people to help in getting this done. They may have, but they are no longer available to the middle class of this nation. That in itself is another lie from our government. Yet, let a foreign family come here to this country and want to start a small business with no means of financing. Our government daily offers these people low cost loans and grants that never have to be repaid for this purpose. They are also given the privaledge of not having to pay any taxes, except for sales taxes, for a period of the frist 7 years of that business. Show me of anyone that is treated with such generousity that was born here, lives here, goes to school here and works here every day of their entire life.

I no longer will ask for respect from these people, and I promise, no one currently in office will ever get my vote at any level until they can prove to me the have enough respect of me and my family to earn it. It's about time we started taking this country back to where it is supposed to be and serve the people who it is meant to serve. We have gone astray far too long in this country and I want the respect I have earned. I demand it from my children and no less should be expected of our leaders at any level of government.

Bruce Lightfoot Brownsboro, Texas