Approximately 50 percent of the population pays no federal tax and the ones who don’t pay vote largesse for themselves.

Morality and personal responsibility are by the wayside. Entitlements abound. Illegal aliens enter the U. S. and work at American jobs with impunity; the economy is a shambles; the value of the dollar shrinks and its place in the international arena wanes; our freedoms ad rights under the Constitution are being stripped away; war has become political gamesmanship; drug/alcohol usage is killing our kids and abortion is now a favored method of birth control.

God is being systematically kicked out of our monuments, public places and schools. Positive educational results continue to plummet and we think throwing money at it will help.

The hype about baseless environmental issues is placed above human concerns and diverts us from the real issues facing this community and nation. The ones who support these declines in our cultural fabric are the ones who work toward failure and it looks like they’re succeeding.

If we don’t start working together on the real problems, perhaps the next time they pick up roadside garbage it will be to feed their kids.

If Mr. Dehlendorf (“Do you want America to fail?”, May 9, pg. 6) or others of his ilk truly believe that these are problems brought on only by Republicans, they are truly short-sighted or worse.

Both parties have been complicit in what we must deal with today and it’s nothing recent.

It is up to us, the individuals on all sides of the political spectrum to work toward the health of our nation.

Dennis Hazelton/San Juan Island