A Letter to Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner: Full Faith and Credit of a Too Big to Fail Nation: Mr. Speaker: I do not know how you can square Republican Party tactics and you as the nation's Speaker with what should be the moral, humane and sound economic policy of the nation. I know you know, and greater economic minds than I have said, not raising the debt ceiling will prove catastrophic to our nation and the world. I think you understand this but the freshmen Republican congressmen, I believe, do not have a clue as to the utter economic insanity that is taking place in Congress. You are bartering away our lives.

Moreover, holding hostage a vote to raise the debt ceiling to the evisceration of Medicare, a program that has saved lives irrespective of party, is despicable in the extreme. Do you truly NOT care who lives and who dies as long as Wall Street moguls and their lobbyists fill politicos’ cash coffers with campaign contributions? Other things can be done to deal with our deficit and debt besides ruining health care and retirement programs which have saved so many. These call for increasing slightly the taxes of those who truly can afford it and ceasing policies of never-ending wars which increase the deficit into the stratosphere of far flung galaxies.

I do not know or understand how a man who calls himself a Christian, a faith based on human kindness and dignity, can fall prey to those forces in Washington who are more interested in stuffing their pocketbooks than helping the elderly, the disabled and poor obtain health care through programs already in place which have worked for over 40 years.

If you and other Republicans do what I think you want to do and make it impossible for the middle class, blue collar and poor to survive then our nation, a beacon of hope to the world, will surely fail. It is on our middle class backs that this nation was built and it is on our middle class backs that the nation could fall as Wall Street and the dastardly deeds of its lending and too-big-to-fail investment banks, hedge funds, sub-prime lending institutions, rating agencies and other market forces are the very reason the economy has been in such a precarious position since 2007. No one who committed these unethical and, in many cases, illegal activities has been brought to justice. Another economic free fall is just waiting for the winds of entitlement evisceration to tip it over the edge.

The rich will NEVER fail, they will NEVER suffer from lack of health insurance, and they will NEVER lose their home nor not have a place to sleep or not have food on the table. If the top 2% are handed tax breaks those breaks will NEVER trickle down their wealth to us. It has been shown time and time again what happens when government is in the pockets of Wall Street and there is no regulation of greed -- the country collapses as it did during the Great Depression and as it almost did in the Great Recession of 2007. Now Republicans want to risk the full faith and credit of a too big to fail nation by not extending the debt ceiling or agreeing to extend it only if it can be accompanied by a reduction in Medicare and other social safety net programs. This is a cruel bargain to say the least.

I URGE you to examine your conscience and if you never stood for the little guy before stand for us now. Medicare, Social Security and other so called entitlements cannot be left at the doorstep of Wall Street, who, like a gambling casino whisks our money away in a con game before we really know it is gone and we are left with nothing! I urge you to use your leadership to ask your party NOT to do such unconscionable things to the people who can least afford it.