Let's stop the divisiveness

I have not submitted a letter to the editor for a long time and I cannot hold back any longer.

I was raised here in Montana along the eastern front, and went to work for some large farm ranch operations in the summer. When I was 16 I got a job with a small local contractor doing dirt and concrete work. The company owner and general foreman were real good about teaching the trade.

I remember one of the big ranch owners at lunch one day say, “Just dumb people pay taxes.” I never forgot that statement and in many cases it holds true today. Thank God there are many corporations and small employers that understand this would not be the United States as we know it with that kind of thinking.

I just turned 80 and thought I would give a letter to the editor another try. I have been hearing a lot on TV that the Republicans say social security is a give away program. We working people have all paid into it. The federal government has been borrowing from it. I have asked several elected officials and did not get an answer that made much sense.

For those of you wondering, I served in the U.S. Navy and made three deployments to the Straits of Formosa in the South China Sea aboard the USS Hornet CVA12. I feel strongly that it makes no difference if you served or not. Be a good American.

This division in political parties needs to calm down.

—Donald E. Wilson,

1031 California Ave.,

Libby