Posted by shyla at 9:00pm Nov 19 '04This is a copy of an email sent to both President Bush and Senator Huchison
NO REPLY EVER CAME FROM EITHER ONE
Dear President Bush,
â∠ÂWE NEED A DIFFERENT APPROACH BESIDES EITHER BIG GOVERNMENT OR INDIFFERENT GOVERNMENT.ââ¬ÃÂ
President George W. Bush
I am a fellow Texan (from Houston) and Republican. Both my parents and I have been Delegates to the State Convention of the Republican Party of Texas for several years. We represented your father in both 1980 and 1988 and most recently you in 2000. Although politically speaking, my parents are extremely small scale; they are quite active locally. My mother has been precinct chairman and election judge for over two decades. She recently served as secretary of the Inwood Forest Community Association. We orchestrated and ran (from our house) the term limits drive in Houston that successfully ousted Kathy Whitmire as mayor.
My parents raised me to think for myself, be responsible and compassionate. Equal rights for all people. Care for those unable to care for themselves. Tolerance for those whose opinions and beliefs differ from my own. They set the example of â∠Âcompassionate conservativeââˆfor me years before you coined the term. Even though they have never been people of great means, my parents have always been generous. Theyâ≢ve given money to their church, the Salvation Army, Billy Graham, The Star of Hope Mission, Disabled American Vets, and so on. I remember one time when my father found out the pastor (Aubrey Vahn) of a church in a poorer part of Houston was living in a home with his wife and kids (where they took in unwed mothers) and without air conditioning while the temperature in Houston was in excess of 100 degrees. He supplied and installed the air conditioner, ducts, vents, return air and all, for free. My parents have always given of their time and money to the fullest of their capabilities.
My father understands poverty, he grew up extremely poor, the youngest of five children (the eldest one died shortly after birth). His father was a man of great faith, a transient worker who picked cotton in the fields for a living and did carpentry work when and where he could find it. His carpentry work led him to Houston in the latter part of the 1940â≢s where he settled down and raised his family. My father grew up in a one-room home with unfinished walls and an outhouse. No plumbing, no electricity. They did not even have their own well; they had to borrow water from their neighbors. All his siblings had to quit school early to go to work with the goal that he, the youngest, would get an education. His only brother, Wayne, died while in the service of this country (the navy) in 1946 leaving my father the sole surviving son. Time has since taken the rest of his family. My grandfather passed away in 1957, my grandmother and both aunts in the 1980â≢s and early 1990â≢s. My father and mother (the daughter of two modest schoolteachers) met and married while in college.
All my life both my parents have worked out of necessity. My father started off as a clerk at a 7/11 then went on to shift work mixing chemicals at the Shell Refinery. He later became an insurance salesman, then a salesman for a builder, then he became a builder himself until 10 years later when Buffalo Savings and Loan put him out of business (prior to being put out of business themselves). He finally opened up a small air conditioning business and operated that until he retired 4 years ago. Never once did he or his family ever receive any government assistance.
â∠ÂTHE PRESIDENT WANTS AMERICA TO BE AN OWNERSHIP SOCIETY-A SOCIETY WHERE A LIFE OF WAGES BECOMES A RETIREMENT OF INDEPENDENCEââ¾OLDER AMERICANS NOW REQUIRE A NEST EGG LARGE ENOUGH FOR DECADES OF ENJOYMENT AND AMBITIONS.ââ¬ÃÂ
The White House Web Site
Upon retiring and up until Tropical Storm Allison, my parents had a modest amount of money ($175,000) invested in a retirement account in the stock market, a house that was paid for (worth approximately $200,000) and a small home based business to supplement their social security (which is slightly more than $1,400 a month combined). They have lived in their current house for more than 36 years, never flooded including during Hurricane Alicia, and with their limited income did not have a reason to carry flood insurance. No one could ever have imagined Allison and a 500-year flood would drop 25 inches of rain after several rain soaking days.
â∠ÂIT IS COMPASIONATE TO HELP OUR CITIZENS IN NEEDââ¬ÃÂ.
President George W. Bush
Their home suffered 3 feet of water, devastating the physical structure, destroying all their furniture, appliances, and most of their personal possessions, totaling their vehicles, and decimating the inventory they carried for their home based business. Before my father could get the money out of his retirement account, 911 happened followed by the dot com crash cutting his savings in half. He then had to pay a penalty for early withdrawal of his savings. He did get what was left of his money out and with his previous building experience, started making repairs himself, subcontracting what work he and I could not do (I spent all my free time and two vacations helping him). Knowing his reputation as a builder, three of his neighbors asked him to repair their homes as well. He did so at a â∠Âcostââˆplus 10%. He finished two then the third ran out money (the homeowners) and they stopped construction while still owing my father $30,000 for work completed. Although he has a mechanics lien, he has yet to collect that money.
â∠ÂMANY AMERICANS ARE REALIZING THE AMERICAN DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP. AT THE SAME TIME, AN INCREASING NUMBER OF HOMEOWNERS ARE LIVING THE NIGHTMARE OF OVERWHELMING DEBT.ââ¬ÃÂ
President George W. Bush
FEMA did give my parents approximately $5,000 for living expenses (hardly enough for the year it took for repairs) and finally a SBA loan for the home and home based business of approximately $90,000 (less than half the cost of structural repairs alone and not near their total loss). The Red Cross never came by. All the â∠Âfundsââˆbeing raised for flood victims, never came their way (where did it all go?). No other assistance of any type was ever forthcoming. After being hit by the flood, the dot com crash, the early withdrawal penalties, and a crooked neighbor, my parents lost all their savings, their home based business was virtually destroyed and having been unable to work it for a year, is still practically non-existent. They went from a paid off house with a retirement account to having a home with a mortgage, no savings, and unmanageable credit card debt. As horrible as 911 was, it made them (and other Allison victims) the forgotten victims. My father had a heart attack at 36, broke his back at 53 (three vertebrae were crushed and fused together), is a diabetic, and at age 69 is not currently employable. It could take years for my father to rebuild his home based business. How can the government expect my parents to pay off such a loan (the SBA) and continue to eat with nothing more than the $1,400 of social security income (almost half of which goes toward prescription drugs) to sustain them?
â∠ÂCOMPASIONATE CONSERVATIVE IS FIGHTING POVERTY AT HOMEââ¬ÃÂ
President George W. Bush
I have pity for the impoverished people of the world. I am proud that America has always been the leading nation in the global community when it comes to assistance, aid, and conservation. I also understand the need to assist the people of Afghanistan and their struggles with our â∠ÂWar on Terrorismââ¬ÃÂ. In October of 2001 alone you appropriated $320 million in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and later (in January) gave another $65 million to various UN agencies to assist Afghan refugees. I am not so concerned with the BILLIONS of dollars annually we GIVE other nations but I do have to ask myself: How can we GIVE so much to others because lifeâ≢s circumstances have rendered them needy when we only offer LOANS to our citizens when circumstances (such as a natural disaster) take them from â∠Âliving the American Dreamââˆto â∠Âliving the nightmare of overwhelming debtââ¬ÃÂ?
I am a restaurant manager with a meager salary of $42,000 plus bonus. Being single and a homeowner myself, my expenses and income (after taxes) are almost equal. I have and will continue to give my parents any and all the money and time I can although I too am without stocks, bonds, 401k or any current savings myself. I will do this even at the cost of my own retirement. However, between income taxes, social security, property taxes, excise taxes, licenses, fees, etc. I spend about half my time not working for myself, but for the government. A government that wastes and gives a substantial amount of my money in grants and subsidies to people and other governments that are hardly in need. A government that thinks it has first rights to my income even at the cost of my parentâ≢s rights to life and liberty. I have no objection to paying taxes, caring for the common good and common defense of the American people, government, and way of life, while helping those unable of helping themselves, but not so when those so close to me are in such dire need. My parents too have always been and still are taxpayers (now that social security is also being taxed). I will not see my parents live in fear of loosing there home to the federal government due to a natural disaster; I will not see them starving. Where was and is my government when I (we) needed it?
I would greatly appreciate it if the government could assist my parents, but If you cannot direct me to some form of assistance for them, then at least give me the opportunity to help them myself. Contrary to what some elected officials feel, it was our government that was created to serve the people (of this sovereign nation), not the other way around. Our constitution, our rights were earned and written for our citizenry not the world. REAL Middle Class Tax reform is not only needed, it is not an option.We must take care of our own first and make sure they can care for themselves. Economic stimulus packages and Capital Gains tax cuts will not aid the elderly on fixed incomes. Elimination of the marriage penalty does not help those who are single and find the expenses of one income for one person living alone to be proportionately greater than that of two incomes for two living together. Elimination of the death tax will do nothing for those whose estates are less than substantial. Although all the aforementioned are worthy â∠Âtax cutsââˆthe continued â∠Âredistributionââˆof wealth from those who earn, pay, and never receive (yet have very little) to those who are unwilling to (not unable to) earn, pay, yet always get, (especially foreign governments and non contributing foreign citizens) must also be reformed. While the government finds itself unwilling or unable to help my parents, who were taxpayers themselves, I find it revolting that the same said government would force me by tax to aid others (including non US citizens) first, and want even more!!! There are those in government that would tax the middle class out of existence. They continually strive to spend more and tax more never really realizing (or caring for) whose money it is they consume. Government waste and â∠Âpork barrelââˆprojects must stop.
Before I retire, I will have paid several hundred thousand dollars in various and sundry taxes (as have my parents) only a small portion of which I will receive benefit from. It would not take that much of my money (or theirs or both) to help my parents out of the crisis they find themselves in. I know, as a person of little means, that I am not alone. There are many others who pay the government money yet are in greater need than the government itself (including many recipients of â∠Âgovernment money").
CLICK HERE to leave me an email
CLICK HERE to visit the White House Web Site
CLICE HERE to EMail President Bush
NO REPLY EVER CAME FROM EITHER ONE
Dear President Bush,
â∠ÂWE NEED A DIFFERENT APPROACH BESIDES EITHER BIG GOVERNMENT OR INDIFFERENT GOVERNMENT.ââ¬ÃÂ
President George W. Bush
I am a fellow Texan (from Houston) and Republican. Both my parents and I have been Delegates to the State Convention of the Republican Party of Texas for several years. We represented your father in both 1980 and 1988 and most recently you in 2000. Although politically speaking, my parents are extremely small scale; they are quite active locally. My mother has been precinct chairman and election judge for over two decades. She recently served as secretary of the Inwood Forest Community Association. We orchestrated and ran (from our house) the term limits drive in Houston that successfully ousted Kathy Whitmire as mayor.
My parents raised me to think for myself, be responsible and compassionate. Equal rights for all people. Care for those unable to care for themselves. Tolerance for those whose opinions and beliefs differ from my own. They set the example of â∠Âcompassionate conservativeââˆfor me years before you coined the term. Even though they have never been people of great means, my parents have always been generous. Theyâ≢ve given money to their church, the Salvation Army, Billy Graham, The Star of Hope Mission, Disabled American Vets, and so on. I remember one time when my father found out the pastor (Aubrey Vahn) of a church in a poorer part of Houston was living in a home with his wife and kids (where they took in unwed mothers) and without air conditioning while the temperature in Houston was in excess of 100 degrees. He supplied and installed the air conditioner, ducts, vents, return air and all, for free. My parents have always given of their time and money to the fullest of their capabilities.
My father understands poverty, he grew up extremely poor, the youngest of five children (the eldest one died shortly after birth). His father was a man of great faith, a transient worker who picked cotton in the fields for a living and did carpentry work when and where he could find it. His carpentry work led him to Houston in the latter part of the 1940â≢s where he settled down and raised his family. My father grew up in a one-room home with unfinished walls and an outhouse. No plumbing, no electricity. They did not even have their own well; they had to borrow water from their neighbors. All his siblings had to quit school early to go to work with the goal that he, the youngest, would get an education. His only brother, Wayne, died while in the service of this country (the navy) in 1946 leaving my father the sole surviving son. Time has since taken the rest of his family. My grandfather passed away in 1957, my grandmother and both aunts in the 1980â≢s and early 1990â≢s. My father and mother (the daughter of two modest schoolteachers) met and married while in college.
All my life both my parents have worked out of necessity. My father started off as a clerk at a 7/11 then went on to shift work mixing chemicals at the Shell Refinery. He later became an insurance salesman, then a salesman for a builder, then he became a builder himself until 10 years later when Buffalo Savings and Loan put him out of business (prior to being put out of business themselves). He finally opened up a small air conditioning business and operated that until he retired 4 years ago. Never once did he or his family ever receive any government assistance.
â∠ÂTHE PRESIDENT WANTS AMERICA TO BE AN OWNERSHIP SOCIETY-A SOCIETY WHERE A LIFE OF WAGES BECOMES A RETIREMENT OF INDEPENDENCEââ¾OLDER AMERICANS NOW REQUIRE A NEST EGG LARGE ENOUGH FOR DECADES OF ENJOYMENT AND AMBITIONS.ââ¬ÃÂ
The White House Web Site
Upon retiring and up until Tropical Storm Allison, my parents had a modest amount of money ($175,000) invested in a retirement account in the stock market, a house that was paid for (worth approximately $200,000) and a small home based business to supplement their social security (which is slightly more than $1,400 a month combined). They have lived in their current house for more than 36 years, never flooded including during Hurricane Alicia, and with their limited income did not have a reason to carry flood insurance. No one could ever have imagined Allison and a 500-year flood would drop 25 inches of rain after several rain soaking days.
â∠ÂIT IS COMPASIONATE TO HELP OUR CITIZENS IN NEEDââ¬ÃÂ.
President George W. Bush
Their home suffered 3 feet of water, devastating the physical structure, destroying all their furniture, appliances, and most of their personal possessions, totaling their vehicles, and decimating the inventory they carried for their home based business. Before my father could get the money out of his retirement account, 911 happened followed by the dot com crash cutting his savings in half. He then had to pay a penalty for early withdrawal of his savings. He did get what was left of his money out and with his previous building experience, started making repairs himself, subcontracting what work he and I could not do (I spent all my free time and two vacations helping him). Knowing his reputation as a builder, three of his neighbors asked him to repair their homes as well. He did so at a â∠Âcostââˆplus 10%. He finished two then the third ran out money (the homeowners) and they stopped construction while still owing my father $30,000 for work completed. Although he has a mechanics lien, he has yet to collect that money.
â∠ÂMANY AMERICANS ARE REALIZING THE AMERICAN DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP. AT THE SAME TIME, AN INCREASING NUMBER OF HOMEOWNERS ARE LIVING THE NIGHTMARE OF OVERWHELMING DEBT.ââ¬ÃÂ
President George W. Bush
FEMA did give my parents approximately $5,000 for living expenses (hardly enough for the year it took for repairs) and finally a SBA loan for the home and home based business of approximately $90,000 (less than half the cost of structural repairs alone and not near their total loss). The Red Cross never came by. All the â∠Âfundsââˆbeing raised for flood victims, never came their way (where did it all go?). No other assistance of any type was ever forthcoming. After being hit by the flood, the dot com crash, the early withdrawal penalties, and a crooked neighbor, my parents lost all their savings, their home based business was virtually destroyed and having been unable to work it for a year, is still practically non-existent. They went from a paid off house with a retirement account to having a home with a mortgage, no savings, and unmanageable credit card debt. As horrible as 911 was, it made them (and other Allison victims) the forgotten victims. My father had a heart attack at 36, broke his back at 53 (three vertebrae were crushed and fused together), is a diabetic, and at age 69 is not currently employable. It could take years for my father to rebuild his home based business. How can the government expect my parents to pay off such a loan (the SBA) and continue to eat with nothing more than the $1,400 of social security income (almost half of which goes toward prescription drugs) to sustain them?
â∠ÂCOMPASIONATE CONSERVATIVE IS FIGHTING POVERTY AT HOMEââ¬ÃÂ
President George W. Bush
I have pity for the impoverished people of the world. I am proud that America has always been the leading nation in the global community when it comes to assistance, aid, and conservation. I also understand the need to assist the people of Afghanistan and their struggles with our â∠ÂWar on Terrorismââ¬ÃÂ. In October of 2001 alone you appropriated $320 million in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and later (in January) gave another $65 million to various UN agencies to assist Afghan refugees. I am not so concerned with the BILLIONS of dollars annually we GIVE other nations but I do have to ask myself: How can we GIVE so much to others because lifeâ≢s circumstances have rendered them needy when we only offer LOANS to our citizens when circumstances (such as a natural disaster) take them from â∠Âliving the American Dreamââˆto â∠Âliving the nightmare of overwhelming debtââ¬ÃÂ?
I am a restaurant manager with a meager salary of $42,000 plus bonus. Being single and a homeowner myself, my expenses and income (after taxes) are almost equal. I have and will continue to give my parents any and all the money and time I can although I too am without stocks, bonds, 401k or any current savings myself. I will do this even at the cost of my own retirement. However, between income taxes, social security, property taxes, excise taxes, licenses, fees, etc. I spend about half my time not working for myself, but for the government. A government that wastes and gives a substantial amount of my money in grants and subsidies to people and other governments that are hardly in need. A government that thinks it has first rights to my income even at the cost of my parentâ≢s rights to life and liberty. I have no objection to paying taxes, caring for the common good and common defense of the American people, government, and way of life, while helping those unable of helping themselves, but not so when those so close to me are in such dire need. My parents too have always been and still are taxpayers (now that social security is also being taxed). I will not see my parents live in fear of loosing there home to the federal government due to a natural disaster; I will not see them starving. Where was and is my government when I (we) needed it?
I would greatly appreciate it if the government could assist my parents, but If you cannot direct me to some form of assistance for them, then at least give me the opportunity to help them myself. Contrary to what some elected officials feel, it was our government that was created to serve the people (of this sovereign nation), not the other way around. Our constitution, our rights were earned and written for our citizenry not the world. REAL Middle Class Tax reform is not only needed, it is not an option.We must take care of our own first and make sure they can care for themselves. Economic stimulus packages and Capital Gains tax cuts will not aid the elderly on fixed incomes. Elimination of the marriage penalty does not help those who are single and find the expenses of one income for one person living alone to be proportionately greater than that of two incomes for two living together. Elimination of the death tax will do nothing for those whose estates are less than substantial. Although all the aforementioned are worthy â∠Âtax cutsââˆthe continued â∠Âredistributionââˆof wealth from those who earn, pay, and never receive (yet have very little) to those who are unwilling to (not unable to) earn, pay, yet always get, (especially foreign governments and non contributing foreign citizens) must also be reformed. While the government finds itself unwilling or unable to help my parents, who were taxpayers themselves, I find it revolting that the same said government would force me by tax to aid others (including non US citizens) first, and want even more!!! There are those in government that would tax the middle class out of existence. They continually strive to spend more and tax more never really realizing (or caring for) whose money it is they consume. Government waste and â∠Âpork barrelââˆprojects must stop.
Before I retire, I will have paid several hundred thousand dollars in various and sundry taxes (as have my parents) only a small portion of which I will receive benefit from. It would not take that much of my money (or theirs or both) to help my parents out of the crisis they find themselves in. I know, as a person of little means, that I am not alone. There are many others who pay the government money yet are in greater need than the government itself (including many recipients of â∠Âgovernment money").
CLICK HERE to leave me an email
CLICK HERE to visit the White House Web Site
CLICE HERE to EMail President Bush
Link: bush email