Dear President,

It is a known fact that we are in major debt, now up to 20+ trillion dollars. Our nation holds one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world and we are still climbing up. We remain near the top of the debt list, behind Japan and Italy. This has yet to improve in decades. This is our last chance at decreasing our country’s economic suffering. Every candidate or president claims that they will save the economy, they will get our government out of debt and that they will create more jobs. Americans have always believed that an individual's effort can triumph over unfortunate circumstances. When will a person make a strong enough effort to make this nation stable once more?

In order to effectively create this “perfect picture”, we have to provide for ourselves before we are able to help others. We are tied to this war between aiding our allies and attempting to fend for ourselves. In more situations throughout history, we assist our allies in troubling events, failing to acknowledge the economic debt imploding and the possible effect on our future. Every time the United States gets involved, we crawl further and further into an unsalvageable debt. We cannot continue to do this until we are economically able to do so. Some extreme financial policy must be put into order to resolve this, hence my letter to you.

I believe the most significant step in this whole process is to create a substantial budget plan that is well balanced. Our government has been constantly spending much more than we are able to make rather than the contrary act. The military funding alone takes up 57% of our federal spending while the majority of the other funds are put towards various government programs such as Medicaid. With this in mind, we must downsize on most of the plans that have provided us with more setbacks than improvement. It is very unfortunate that our government continues to stand with expired programs and research projects and continues to give billions of dollars to keep them alive. These billions of dollars wasted could have gone towards the citizens who are suffering because of this debt we have created for ourselves. According to the article McCain: Government spent $294B on expired programs, former presidential candidate John McCain highlights that “The $294 billion that is being spent on expired programs stems from a report the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released in January. Last year, the government spent $302 billion on unauthorized projects”. Here, McCain hyperbolizes the major picture, if the United States is so far into debt, why do we continue to engage in a more intensified issue? Why feed the whole issue rather than reducing the majority of its factors? In previous campaigns, political figures tend to focus on how they are planning to improve our financial situation. They have continued to throw funds away and make the situation worse for the next generations. Everytime we neglect the actual issue, we continue to bring ourselves closer into bankruptcy. This will destroy our nation and the citizens will be left with nothing. Why would a person have such indecency and leave their world with nothing? As the new president, you need to first-hand dictate which programs are vital for our nation. This nation’s fatal flaw is how much we continue to hoard plans and watch them add to our government debt. The citizens of the United States are urging you to cut a vast amount of nonperforming programs. We are your supporters, would you leave your people in shambles and suffering? The purpose of this is to create a distinguished scale to exemplify an open door to inevitable government savings. We elected you to ensure a brighter future for us, don't leave America in a worse state than it already is.

It is crucial that we balance our governmental spending. Collectively, it is public knowledge that high spendings and efforts are put into our military. One key issue is the disproportionate balance of government funds. In order to make this a reality, we must reduce some of these funds, not by much, to assist our nation. As reported by McCain, the government concentrates its funds willingly on the military, “including a $2.4 billion cost overrun on the Navy’s new aircraft carrier… we’ve got to get rid of sequestration because it is destroying our ability to defend the nation”. In extreme cases such as now, our responsibility is to make the United States stable once more and we need to fish ourselves out of debt. We are unable to become financially stable if $598.49 billions are being casually spent on the military. We cannot keep spending funds at our free will as if government money is a credit card. If you fail to make cuts from certain programs to create a balance budget, even by the littlest amount possible, our country’s next step is bankruptcy. As much as we all would deny it, we just spend an excessive amount on military related research projects and some unnecessary wars. Some of these projects are unfeasible and unrealistic considering how many billions of government dollars are used in this area alone. We are involved in wars that are not our fight. We put ourselves in unneeded positions to help our allies when we can barely focus on ourselves. Congress votes to put our country further into debt with every war we fund. They willingly put the citizens of this nation at risk every day for the sake of helping our allies. These men and women are separated from their families for the allies advantage but what do they gain? They continue to miss out on loving their partners every night, witnessing important milestones in their children life. What do they gain in return? Everyday, they die and are traumatized for what? Why are we fighting elsewhere when we know there are invaders on our own soil? I believe you must collectively create boundaries that will be beneficial to us rather than our allies.

On the other hand, you need to be focusing on the plans that are vital to our nation’s economic health. This nation is exceedingly dependent on crucial programs such as Social Security and Medicare. These provide benefits to our citizens such as retirement income and guaranteed medical assistance. When the majority of citizens strongly depend on a specific program, I believe we should continue to fund it and structure an essential development in our community. Promoting a good and accessible lifestyle to every citizen is one of the key ideals that make people desire to be an American. In the article “The Forgotten Achievements of Government”, professor Douglas J. Amy conveys how “Social Security has cut the rate of poverty for the elderly by over half – from 29% in 1966 to 10% today”. We must protect Social Security. If this plan is removed, you will leave your elders with nothing to provide for themselves. You will leave them in a state where they are physically unable to rely on themselves for basic needs. The percentage of homeless elderly will dramatically increase. You will leave them with no care, unsafe living conditions, nothing to live for. Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of innocent people over something you thought didn't matter? Do you want the most important people in this country to turn against you because you betrayed them?

It is time for a strong individual to step up and save us and this starts with you. Just as it would be irresponsible for my parents to leave me to clear up any financial mess they made, the same can be said about the president. Would you allow your children to burden the consequences of your problems when you could do something about it? America is an immense nation, one that I am proud to be a part of, but drowning in debt is only degrading the power of the United States. This is our final chance to fix this treacherous debt before our home is in a doomed state. Without necessary cuts and balances in the budget, we as citizens will suffer from mistakes from previous generations. You have to be putting ourselves first, not our allies. You have to be taking strategic risks in our economy before it is too late. The consequences will be unbearable if we don’t resolve them now. You are our final hope at rescuing America’s citizens. What will you do recover our nation and its future?

Citation:

Shabad, Rebecca. "McCain: Government Spent $294B on Expired Programs | TheHill." The Hill. N.p., 07 May 2015. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Amy, Douglas J. "Government Is Good." - The Forgotten Achievements of Government. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.