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Elect successful people

3 min read

To the editor:

It’s strange that we no longer honor success. Look how we have continued to lower our standards. We allow lowering the standard for hiring, passing grades, work ethics, accepting lower quality work, and not requiring individual responsibility. We provide free meals, school children breakfast and lunch, food stamps and massive unemployment benefits. We seem to honor those not successful, those who know how to “work the system.” Is that fair?

Yet we hear the rich don’t pay their fair share, but the 1 percent pay 38 percent and the top 10 percent pay 70 percent of all the tax income to the government. I think they pay their fair share. Nothing wrong with being rich.

In Lee County we graduate 79 percent of our high school students; will the 21 percent be successful? There are great stories of successful people, yet our history books rarely tell the stories. The 10 richest Americans started as just normal people and the achieved the American Dream. Where are the stories? Can we honor rich people? Why not? They are successful, often by their commitment to be successful.

What’s happened, could it be unions and government? Labor unions have little representation in the private sector, less than 8 percent but have representation in government of 40 percent… how come? Average government compensation is 46 percent higher than private sector employment and they spend 128 percent more than private sector health benefits and 15 percent more on retirement benefits. Government pay has risen by 38 percent double the 15 percent in private pay.

We elect our representatives without quality resume and once elected they remain in power for years. What’s wrong with term limits to rotate your leadership? Why give our elected officials high pay and lifelong benefits. If we elect successful people they may have the passion to serve the people and may not require lifelong benefits.

Where is the outrage? Does it come down to electing the right people to instill our American values? One could argue, “who are the right people?” How about starting with their resume, vote for and encourage successful people to run for office.

Can you think of people who have been elected with little or no resume? Now think of one running with an excellent resume who has been successful his entire life, proven success and leadership. Mitt Romney is that person and the person this county needs. He is successful and by the way, he is rich. Is there anything wrong with that?

Tom McNulty

Cape Coral