Letter to President Obama

August 18, 2011

Barack Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

Best wishes for a wonderful vacation with your family. I hope and pray that you return with a clear understanding of what you are up against and that you bring a will and a drive to the remainder of your first term to accomplish the goals you promised in your campaign. Please understand that my comments express views from outside Washington from a recent retiree from Michigan who has serious concerns for the future of my country.

When you return, if you continue to ask for co-operation, I hope you will also expect none. Your opposition’s primary interest is not to reduce the debt. Please escape this trap. They are interested—as they have clearly told us—in reducing federal government as much as possible. They do so by starving it of money. That is the primary purpose of their eternally unsatisfied appetite for cuts in spending. It has nothing to do with debt. It has everything to do with power. For example, if the regulators have no funds to do their job, then their job will not be done and the corporations will have carte blanche to run wild, even if it causes danger to the public as with the FAA.

Their ultimate goal is to weaken government so much that Social Security and Medicare are taken over by Wall Street, the banks, and the insurance companies, transferring hundreds of trillions of dollars to the private sector and—the real goal—trillions upon trillions in profits paid for by the middle class and the poor.

Republicans have announced that their primary goal is to get you out of office. They have turned down every proposal, every plea to negotiate and compromise, in their relentless push for power. They must be stopped, and you will have to use your executive power in new and creative ways to stop them. The debt vote should have been a no brainer. The Constitution tells us that the debt must be recognized. It is not subject to negotiation and compromise. If Congress refuses to recognize the debt, the President must declare an emergency and proceed under his Constitutional powers. No haggling. No compromise. You must find and exercise other such options to accomplish what is good for America, now including especially overcoming a steadfast, unreasoning opposition dedicated to selling America off for profit.

If Congress refuses to act to help jobs and the economy, as they will continue to do, the President must represent the American people and act for their benefit. I am afraid that there is now no other choice in this matter.

Warmest regards,

Thomas Hunter, Ph.D.