Editor:

President Kennedy said at his inaugural speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can be doing for your country." Did he know then that our country wasn’t going to be doing anything for American citizens and that our leaders are all power hungry and greedy?

The Democratic party, led by President Lyndon Johnson, took our social security from a trust fund and placed it in the general fund, allowing Congress to use it as it pleased.

President Jimmy Carter made it legal for immigrants 65-years-old to receive Social Security without putting one cent into it.

Vice President Al Gore’s tie breaking vote while president of the Senate allowed Congress to vote themselves a pay raise to $169,300 and a monthly cost of living allowance of $4,100. Plus they receive 100 percent retirement for serving just one term.

Our current president has put our country in debt and maybe a recession.

Go to a VA hospital, or a military retirement center and stop and think of what these citizens of this age group represented. What magnificent sacrifices they had made. The things they did for me and every American are priceless.

Men who served Merrill’s Marauders landing on Omaha Beach under ungodly dangerous situations; former prisoners of frozen Korea, the steamy heat of Vietnam, inhumane conditions of Japanese prisons and the foodless prisons of Germany.

I can go on and on. These old warriors have been forgotten by our government and have seen a lot of promised benefits taken away, yet Congress continues to spend tax dollars on pork barrel, useless and nonessential items. They do this for votes and monetary reward.

This must stop. It is time American citizens speak out. Enough is enough. Pork barrel spending could be used for housing and medical care for veterans.

I have now seen a Congress that has turned its back on the individuals who have sacrificed so much to protect our liberty and freedom.

I see a later generation that seems to be totally engrossed in abusing these same liberties won with so much sacrifice. I solidified my belief that we are losing an incredible generation and we should all take note. We must earn the respect of these gallant, brave warriors. President Kennedy said, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." These veterans never asked, they saw their duty and they did it.

Our government and all the political parties have become greedy, only looking out for No. 1. They are forgetting why they are in office and how they got there.

When voting for the next representatives and president, don’t use race, gender or religion. Vote on their platform and what their plans are for our country. It’s time we took our country back out of the hands of the greedy and power hungry.

For God and country, God bless America and our troops in harms way.