Politics should be for the people

Dana L. Stern Sr., Canyon Country, Calif.

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013 | 2:01 a.m.

The premise of this democracy is based on electing representatives who will make decisions in the interests of all people, not just the rich, corporations or special interests. Unfortunately, the United States of America has had leaders that cared more about getting reelected and peddling their influence in Congress.

Consistently, our representatives became disconnected from the voters and the well-being of the country. It breaks my heart to say that America is not the super power that it once was.

It is time for Americans to wake up, look around and face a very harsh reality.

The reality is that China is now a formidable super power. China after World War II was determined to build a better life for its people and it did.

China was truly a sleeping giant from many perspectives. It has emerged as a financial and industrial leader. China has moved on to space exploration and has military forces surpassing ours.

The United States needs to rethink policies, both foreign and domestic. We cannot allow petty political differences hold us back from being better than we are now. We owe billions of dollars to China, borrowed to fight wars in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The lesson is we cannot act unilaterally against countries with different identities from ours.

We can no longer afford leaders who do not have the interests of the people.

Those leaders who wish to tear down or shut down our government must be recalled or voted out of office at every possible opportunity.