The Treaty of Tripoli, ratified by Congress in 1797, included: “The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”

Obviously.

According to a Housing and Urban Development Homeless Assessment report from 2017: 554,000 homeless with 193,000 living on the streets; 7.2 percent are veterans, 7.4 percent are children.

U.S. Department of Agriculture: 15 million households, including 6.5 million children were food insecure sometime in 2017.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2017: 39.7 million live in poverty; 9.2 percent over age 65, 17.5 percent under 18.

Bureau of Labor Statistics: between 1979 and 2016 the top 10 percent had a 186.8 percent increase in income; 91 percent had access to retirement, 94 percent had access to health benefits. The bottom 10 percent lost 5 percent (inflation and stagnant wages); 34 percent had access to retirement; 24 percent had access to health benefits.

Republicans have done nothing to change those statistics; quite the contrary.

For the common good, it is time to vote them out of office.

Joanne D’Unger, Leeds

filed under: