I’m tired of listening to President Obama tell us we need to pay more taxes. Many people here in Maine already pay 50 percent of their income in federal, state, local, sales taxes and fees. Is 50 percent not enough?

I’m tired of finding out ways our government is using our tax money in other countries. Our president recently visited Brazil with a gift of our monies to help with drilling for oil off their shores. We can’t drill here for oil but we can pay Brazil to drill for oil and then sell it to us?

I’m tired of our congressional delegation voting to spend us into the poorhouse. We Mainers know that if you constantly spend more money than you have, bad things will happen.

They tell us the budget is very complicated. Yes, I guess it is complicated to figure out a system where a big company (like General Electric) can make over $14 billion and pay no taxes. The president tells you and me we need to pay more in taxes, but his biggest supporter, GE, doesn’t have to.

I’m tired of sending our military all over the world to meddle in everyone’s business. Our Constitution does not justify getting involved all over the world at the whim of the president.

I’m tired of worrying about my grandchildren’s future here in America. Remember when we grew up? Yes, we always had worries, but our American future always seemed bright. America was the “shining city on the hill” — anything was possible!

Now with the terrible debt that our representatives are placing us under, the future is shaky at best.

Please join me and vote Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Michael Michaud out of office.

James Waterhouse

Saco

Americans, while raising families, attending churches, growing businesses, fighting wars and supporting their governments, have unknowingly allowed government representatives and employees to surreptitiously corrupt and destroy the very roots of our constitutional republic.

It is obvious to every thinking citizen that our destruction as a sovereign state and country has been happening for a long time and is almost complete. We desperately need to compel everyone in our local and state governments to review state and federal legislation and programs for the last 100 years for conformance to our state and federal constitutions.

The question is whether any, or all of us, can stop this sovereignty train wreck from happening, or whether it is already too late. Certainly the voters don’t want, and have never asked, elected officials to do anything unconstitutional or illegal.

In Federalist No. 85, Alexander Hamilton noted: “We may safely rely on the disposition of the state legislatures to erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority.”

So it thus appears that, from the beginning, correction of federal encroachment problems was known to be a state responsibility, and that the states were not meant to be controlled by an unlawful and corrupt federal government.

The states are sovereign, and their first duty is to protect and defend their citizens from all enemies, both domestic and foreign. The states have never surrendered their sovereignty to the federal government, but much of their sovereignty has been unlawfully usurped by the federal government.

John Sutherland

Scarborough

Where are the voices protesting prolonged war?

Our citizens are totally silent as our president makes decisions about warfare abroad. How very sad for the future of our country.

There has been a flurry of letters about taking down the mural in the Department of Labor in Augusta (yes, I too am appalled). And whether or not to declare the whoopie pie the state dessert or the state snack brought much reader response.

But when Obama decided to engage in warfare in Libya (yes, creating a no-fly zone over a foreign country is a form of warfare), no one seems offended or even very concerned about that.

The president is also reneging on his promise to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by this summer, and again no one is complaining. Our warfare there is creating a massive debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay.

We are producing more and more people abroad who hold deep grudges against our country. And worst of all, we are killing innocent people across the globe with our robotic weapons in violation of the laws of war. But nobody makes a peep about it all.

Am I the only person left who is outraged that our country has become a nation seeking world domination?

Am I the only one who weeps at what has become of American values?

Cushman D. Anthony

North Yarmouth

Any more casinos should go to referendum

If the voters’ intent is in question, let them tell you what they want.

There has been much debate over why Question 1 passed last fall to approve a casino in Oxford and what the “100 mile” provision included in this referendum means for groups outside of Oxford or Bangor that wish to open their own casinos.

Let’s not forget that this provision has been law since 2003 and is by no means new to the casino question. Any casino projects from now on are not nullified by this provision if voters choose to approve it.

Whether the public voted for jobs, more tax revenue or simply a closer location to play blackjack, one thing is sure: The voters said “yes” to two out of many proposals in at least the last decade, setting a precedent with less-than-clear intent for the future.

Now, based on the approval of the Oxford casino, several groups with their own projects in mind want to tell the voters what the voters’ intentions were and are asking the Legislature to fast-track their proposals while circumventing the referendum process.

Several casino votes have fallen for reasons that can only be speculated on. The public’s voice in government is what makes Maine great, and our constitution is steeped with this ideal.

The gaming industry may spark great economic success for the state, but in its infancy should grow slowly and steadily, if at all, past the point we are at now. It should be our choice how, when and where that happens.

The referendum process is precious. Believe in the people of this state to continue to tell the government what we want instead of the government telling us what we will get.

Paul Teixeira

Alfred