In his Aug. 12 letter to the editor, Glenn Spence asks, “What group of people would you rather have spending money, rich people or the federal government?”
Well, let’s see. The federal government is spending money to help my parents live with modest decency in retirement; the rich are not. The government helped secure my grandparents’ access to necessary medical care; the rich did not. State governments, with federal help, established and sustained every school I attended, kindergarten through doctoral program; the rich did not. The government protects me from foreign invasion and puts police officers and firefighters on the street to protect my family, my possessions and myself; the rich do not. The government spends money to preserve the Grand Canyon and other natural treasures; the rich do not. The government pays to protect our air and water and the safety of our workplaces, and to enforce fair practices in business; the rich do not. The government spent money to send men to the moon, to place Hubble in orbit and to decipher the language of our DNA; the rich did not.
