To the Editor:

I don’t understand.

Why is our president essentially letting the G.O. Tea Party shackle the economy and the social services Americans so depend on, especially in this punishing economy?

Why won’t he use the 14th Amendment and, as Bill Clinton said, force it to be challenged. By that time, he can (hopefully, finally) let the Bush tax cuts expire, making his case to the middle and lower classes that their portion of the cuts gives them very little (and we are ready to share in sacrifice), but that the recoupment from those who really made out like bandits will contribute toward our AAA credit rating as a steady stream of revenue – more so than draconian cuts to the societal safety net and forfeiting any future hopes of progressing on a broader scale by way of broad-based education and an infrastructure that will continue to support the level of commerce we have reached thus far in our history.

–– Robert Reuter, Tryon