First, let me start out by disclosing that I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I am an American. I served my country in the second world war, a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber who flew 35 missions over Germany. I am also a retired small businessman and longtime Buckley resident who knows that we need to balance the budget in both Washingtons. I started and ran a successful logging company from 1950 to 1990. Once I got the business running, the key to my success was not spending more money than I earned.

As a country we need to do the same. I believe the most fair way to do this is to reinstate the taxes on the wealthy only. The middle class needs help. The taxes that should be reinstated aren’t just the taxes that Bush cut, but we should remember and reinstate the taxes on the wealthy that were in place before Ronald Reagan.

We never had a trillion dollar debt until we elected Ronald Reagan. We paid for World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War and we never had a trillion dollar debt. I should tell you that I voted for Reagan the first time. I voted for both Bushes (the first time only) and I voted for Eisenhower, Nixon and Ford. I’ve lived through 15 presidents.

What Reagan did was bad for the country and bad for the future and we are getting ready to dig an even deeper hole. Reagan helped the rich, and poor people and their children paid the bill. He plunged the country into debt. Reagan cut my taxes in half when he got in office, but he did not cut spending in half. He paid for the tax cut by borrowing money that poor and middle class people would have to pay back. This eventually resulted in a national debt of $3.5 trillion dollars.

If we cut taxes for the wealthy again, we put our children into debt. Please don’t let it happen again. Don’t believe it for a second when the would-be tax cutters tell you this is the way to get the country out of the recession.

This is a myth. It’s the same myth Reagan called the trickle down theory. The myth is that if you lower taxes, more people will be hired and we will be pulled out of the recession. I don’t believe it. It didn’t work the last time Bush cut taxes for the wealthy and started a war. I also don’t believe it because I’ve seen what people do with their money. When someone earns more money, they put it in their back pocket, not in some other guy’s. There isn’t anyone I know that hired anybody because they had a tax cut. You don’t run a business that way. You run it with the least amount of people you need to get the work done. No more spending our children’s money to cut taxes for the well-to-do.

John Blanusa

Buckley