Dear Editor: I sit here and wonder why it costs us so much to run our government. The U.S. House of Representatives took 239 days off in 2013, and in 2014 they already scheduled 113 days away from government duties.

Now to go to President Reagan, here are some other facts during his 6 1/2-year term: He spent a year off, with 25 days during one month vacationing at his ranch. The bill was over $600,000, and that was in 1987 dollars.

Now George W. Bush, who spent 487 days away from his office taking 149 trips to Camp David, spending 77 days at his Crawford ranch and 11 trips to his father’s mansion – this totals more than a year away during his term.

Now we come to President Obama, where the news constantly reports he’s going on vacation. As of two days ago, he’s had 138 vacation days, or approximately 3 weeks per year.

With the things going on in the world, I should think about the extreme mental strain he is under – especially with a Congress that won’t work for our government, with the President or on behalf of the Americans who put them in positions of power.

The bottom line: I think our elected political power should quit complaining and do what’s good for the people instead of fighting each other’s party position. Maybe it’s time to do away with parties and just vote for the person and not his party that supports him.

I would vote for an open election, instead of a party vote. We should also do away with lobbyists who are interfering with congressional efforts to help us.

Let’s put the government back into the people’s hands and not the political party’s hands.

Robert Gustafson

Downey

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Published: Aug. 28, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 20