Dear editor,

State Sen. Frank Ruff is against raising the minimum wage. Bernie Sanders is in favor of it. The minimum wage has stayed the same for years while the cost of living has gone up, making people poorer every year. Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage will cause unemployment to go down because the low wage earner will have more to spend. When he/she has money to spend, demand goes up which results in more jobs and more jobs creates more demand and more jobs.

The cost of health care should go down. The greedy have caused huge price increases that need to be rolled back. We should have single-payer health care like the U.K. and Canada. They and other countries have higher quality care and we have the highest priced, but far from the best health care. The third leading cause of death in this country is medical malpractice.

We should eliminate the income cap on Social Security. The poor pay on all of their earned income and the rich should also. We should make Wall Street pay a 5 percent sales tax on all trades to pay for new jobs, lower the debt, pay for college or trade school for those who cannot afford it, provide clean energy, etc.

This country needs to drastically reduce military spending, stop terrorizing the people of other countries and funding the terrorist acts of the Israelis. The U.S. government just bombed a hospital in Afghanistan. Innocent lives lost are called “collateral damage.”

The government sets a bad example and violence becomes more common as some people imitate the senseless slaughter and lack of concern for others. There are cities where it is illegal to feed the homeless and some freeze to death every winter. The evil is spreading like cancer. This is allegedly a Christian country. Real Christians give to the poor, show mercy, make peace and not war, care about other humans and non-humans and do not kill for “sport” or destroy the environment.   

Elaine Kelly

Kenbridge