November 4,2007

I AM CONFUSED

When the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress passed the Medicare Part D drug plan they insisted that seniors and others could not import drugs from Canada or European Countries. They said that they could not guarantee the safety of these drugs. But, as I look at the drugs that I am getting through Medicare Part D I notice that many of them are coming from China. Others, contain components from China and are not so labeled. The agency that is supposed to oversee the purity of these imports confesses that they can test only a small fraction of those coming into the country.

Millions of toys come into our country from China and many of them contain lead that is harmful to our children. The agency that is supposed to test these imports has only one agent testing toys and a laboratory no more advanced than one that can be found in a High School Science Department. The Republican head of this department is resisting enlarging the department and is reluctant to accept more funding from Congress. A large portion of the food we eat now is being imported from China and Mexico. But almost none of this is tested for purity.

As for the Democratic majority in Congress, it is still encouraging the influx of illegal immigrants. The Democratic Party has stood for the middle class worker, and for establishing a living wage. The concept of supply and demand tells us that if illegal immigrant workers are willing to accept lower wages, wages, in general will go down. In fact, as our citizen workers have been laid off from good paying jobs they have had to accept jobs with much lower pay.. It is becoming harder for the workers in the middle class of our country to support their families with housing, health care and other vital necessities.

So, I am confused. Our leaders tell us one thing. But, by their actions they are doing something else. Who can we look to now?