We need solutions to nation's problems, not politics as usual

While the majority of people in the United States are struggling to find work and worrying about how to pay bills, rent, taxes and feed their families, Congress debated a commemorative coin for baseball and reaffirmed "In God We Trust" as our national motto, even though no one proposed changing the motto. It is our opinion that these actions were a meaningless distraction from the nation's real problems.

Here are some sobering statistics that Congress should keep in mind: the national unemployment rate in September was 9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and as high as 20 percent in some areas of the country. The number of people in poverty in 2010 (46.2 million) is the largest number in the 52 years that the poverty estimates have been published. Nearly 19 percent of families with children had incomes below the federal poverty level of $22,025 for a family of four in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

There is a critical need for fundamental change in the nation's priorities. Strength Through Peace is calling on Senator Michael Bennet and Sen. Mark Udall to urge the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to include key components of the Congressional Progressive Caucus's "People's Budget" in its recommendations to Congress.

Those key components of the "People's Budget" include:

1. End emergency military funding beginning in FY 2013. This would save $674 billion over 2012-16 alone.

2. End the military occupations of both Afghanistan and Iraq and realign strategic forces. This would result in $2.3 trillion in savings over ten years.

3. Create a jobs program focused on training better teachers and training military veterans to work in the green economy.

4. Re-establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, which helped the nation recover from the Great Depression.

5. Preserve and strengthen the Social Security and Medicare programs.

6. Increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy to fund the jobs program and to ensure the solvency of Social Security and Medicare.

Strength Through Peace also has been asking Bennet since December 2010, and Udall since Sept 2011, to support the Iraq Veterans Against the War Operation Recovery Campaign. Doing so would demonstrate both Senators' commitment to stopping the deployment of traumatized troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. We are still waiting for a positive response from both Bennet and Udall on this issue.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is now sweeping the United States and the world as a result of the disgust people feel for the callous disregard exhibited toward ordinary people by financial elites and their servants in the political establishment. Many of us have been participating in the Occupy Fort Collins protest since Oct. 10. Members of Congress ignore the legitimate demands of ordinary people at their own risk.

Please join Strength Through Peace at our monthly vigil outside the office of Sen. Bennet to let him know that Congress needs to focus on the struggles of everyday people and not be distracted by politics as usual. We will gather at noon Wednesday at Bennet's office, located at 1200 South College Ave. For more information concerning this event, visit www.cjpe.org/stp.