They're making a big deal about 47 percent; it's just the facts, reader says

Letter to the Editor,

The media and the Democratic Party are making a big gotcha event of Gov. Mitt Romney’s declaration that 47 percent of the population are receiving aid from the government and therefore unlikely to vote for a Republican platform that wants to return to a more fiscally responsible course. 

I fail to understand why stating this fact is somehow politically damaging. 

For me, this fact may serve as a wakeup call to the danger we face as a nation, because this level of dependency cannot be sustained. 

Until Bush, Jr., pushed his free prescription drug program for seniors into law in order to win their vote, the Republican Party was more fiscally conservative of the two parties and served to some extent as a restraint for the Democrats, who have traditionally proposed more free stuff in exchange for votes. 

Now that we are about to fall into the abyss of insurmountable debt, Republicans are trying to cut back on some of these unsustainable entitlements, but this is a difficult task. 

It’s easy to offer people free stuff out of their own treasury, but quite another thing to ask them to get by with less.

Will the people recognize our peril and vote a more fiscally responsible course or will they continue to clamor for more freebies and send us over the cliff? 

We are about to find out. 

— Bill Payne

Libby