‘We Don’t Deserve’ Bush’s Tax Cut

Re “House OKs Tax Cut Plan, Giving Bush Big Victory,” March 9:

In the vote on the tax cut, Democrats have shown that they value politics over policy. They would rather wage class warfare than return the surplus to the public. They never had any intention of working with this president and have been looking past the first 100 days to the next election all along.

Republicans are no better. They have been spending the surplus on pet projects and pork for months. And what about us, the public? This is the same group of people who continued to elect and support the most corrupt and dishonest president since Richard Nixon.

Note to George W. Bush: Ignore the extremists on the right, the partisans on the left and the public opinion polls that show a fickle and distracted public, and simply do what you know is right. I don’t know why you’re pushing for this tax cut. Although we need it, and we have the money to easily pay for it, we clearly don’t deserve it.

JOEL WYATT

Santa Monica

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Surprise, surprise! The majority of the American public supports the Democratic approach to the surplus, the Democratic components to Bush’s education plan, and the less-than-Republican plan for defense (Times Poll, March 8). It’s almost as if the majority voted for Al Gore. Wait a minute. They did.

EDDIE KEHLER

Redondo Beach

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The Democrats, media and the country as a whole have fallen hook, line and sinker for the old good cop/bad cop routine up there in D.C. While the president wages his “charm war” and insists to one and all that he is a uniter, his party leadership uses that smoke screen to ram through the most conservative agenda of the century. Befuddled and bedazzled, we are all looking at a long, tough sentence.

CHARLES SHAUGHNESSY

Santa Monica

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Re “Nation’s Infrastructure Crumbling, Report Says,” March 8: My house is falling down. I have enough money to fix it, but I’ve decided to give the money to my wealthy neighbor.

Insane? The American Society of Civil Engineers says that our “infrastructure of airports, school buildings, power plants and roads” is falling apart and needs $1.3 trillion in repairs. We have enough money in budget surpluses to pay that bill, but instead of investing the money in our nation and ourselves--an investment that would pay itself back many times over in increased ability to learn, work and do business--we’re going to give it to the wealthy few. Actually, there are no “surpluses,” only urgent needs that are not being paid for.

JERRY BRADLEY

Santa Barbara

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What is the return on an investment (ROI) of $100 million in the Bush campaign with a return of $1 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years?

STEVEN GERDSMEIER

Yorba Linda