To the Editor:

Our forefathers laid it all on the table. They knew very well what the stakes were, and they expressed them as follows: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Our current congressional “fathers” are an embarrassment to that pledge. Now they take different types of pledges.

Every informed person knows that, in order to get our deficit under control, both taxes and entitlements have to be addressed — otherwise the math just does not work. President Obama proposed a four trillion dollar deal (which was probably not enough), mostly involving cuts in domestic spending, with some increases in taxes on a small segment of our society, i.e., that segment which has reaped the greatest benefit from it. He also said that he would put entitlements on the table.

But Congress, on both sides of the aisle, can’t see beyond their ideologies and petty pledges and come up with a paltry deal that quickly led to a downgrade by S&P. Shame on them. A dictatorship works just fine without compromise; a democracy does not. I, for one, am angry.

THOMAS E. WALKER
Chocowinity