Response to a letter to the editor in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung

Jim Alston’s letter "Balanced Budget Can Be Achieved Without Raising Taxes" claims all can be fixed just by cutting spending. Anyone who owns a car or a home knows what happens when you cut spending so much that you don’t maintain what you already have, the car stops running and the house falls down around your ears.

Hubert Humphrey, our 38th Vice President, is quoted as saying “It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped”.

The proposed 33% cut to Medicaid endanger the sick, needy and handicapped. The similar proposed cuts to education will damage the lives and income potential of the children of our state for a generation. The government of Texas is failing Humphrey’s test. When any government fails such a test it is incumbent on the people to replace that government.

2012 can’t come soon enough.

Letter to John Kuempel, State Rep HD 44

January 13, 2011

The Honorable John Kuempel

P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768

Dear Representative Kuempel,

Congratulations on your overwhelming win in the special election. Now that you have officially assumed your duties as our representative in HD 44 I urge you to recognize the massive budget shortfall Texas is faced with and the need to restructure the state budget. It is imperative that you and your colleagues act on the wishes of the vast majority of Texans, 70% plus, that want social services and education to be funded at or above existing levels. The state budget has already been cut to the bone and any further cuts will damage the health and future of this great state.

Education is not an expense, it is in fact an investment in the future of Texas as I’m sure you recognize given that your personal success and that of your employer could not have occurred without an educated work force. The new Caterpillar plant would not have been built in Seguin without access to an educated workforce. If we fail to invest in the future of Texas by not fully funding primary, secondary and university educations for all Texans you will suffer the shame for the rest of your life. I urge you to remember that your own children will be live in the future Texas that you, even now, are going to shape.

Sincerely,