What made America great is being dismantled

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Vince Cianciolo | Letter to the Editor

What made America great is being dismantled In response to “Gutting USAID is good policy” (News Sentinel, page 1E, Feb. 16): There is waste in any large organization, and there are programs whose value we can debate. But a productive tree with a few diseased branches should be pruned and fertilized, not cut down.

Is our government productive? Are you glad you drink clean water and breathe clean air? Are you glad you don’t worry about your food being safe? Are you proud that America is looked up to around the world and viewed as a reliable partner? That less than 1% of our budget helps save millions of people? These are the things that make this country great, and they are being dismantled before our eyes.

The Vampires have sunk their teeth into us, and Elon Musk and his fellow oligarchs are sucking us dry. They keep the rest of us focused on waste and culture wars, leaving us to fight over scraps while distracting us from their obscene wealth.

Elon Musk makes a million dollars every 20 minutes. Elon Musk could pay the entire USAID budget in perpetuity. Elon Musk could pay the entire U.S. military budget for a year. Elon Musk’s net worth, and therefore power, is nearly equal to that of every Tennessean combined. We are collectively insane to let anyone have that much power.

Billionaire oligarch-vampires control half the wealth in this country. Tax them, at a rate that would still leave them wealthy beyond measure, and we could pay off the debt, help the working class, protect our environment, fund the military and continue to be a beacon of hope for the world.

There are 664 of them and 350 million of us. And that is exactly what they hope and pray you don’t think about for very long.

Vince Cianciolo, Knoxville

President Ronald Reagan had a view of America as a “Shining City on a Hill”; I don’t think malnourished, displaced and abused people around the globe now share in this assessment of the U.S. The United States could be relied upon to come to the aid of people in need in our own country and beyond, but no longer.

President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their minions in Congress are gleefully and quickly throwing honest, hard-working Americans out of work by firing them indiscriminately or by causing such economic upheaval with his tariffs that many businesses will close and needed products will become unavailable.

The U.S. economic deficit is beyond huge and, yes, it must be addressed. Trillions more dollars are going out than are coming in. Is the answer a dictator who unitarily halts humanitarian aid the answer? Is the answer dictatorial mandates where people are fired with no written justification and no congressional or legal oversight? A chainsaw-wielding billionaire has made himself a gleeful destroyer of people’s lives. Thousands of Americans are now looking for jobs to support their families, pay their bills and have a roof over their head. None have been charged with deceit or financial crimes. All were working for either the American people or people in other countries who need help.

This is a scary time. I liked the America which was, for the most part, a shinning city on the hill. Most problems, even our huge economic deficit, can be handled in a humane and lawful way with all three branches of government involved – that is the American Way. We are a democracy with a Constitution.

Trump wants money and power for himself and four years to make the most of both.

Candy Wansley, Knoxville

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