This probably sounds like the corny ravings of an old man but think about it. We have poison in dog food from China. Small amounts that pose no immediate danger but still over time what does all this do to the body of man or beast. The latest is counterfeit toothpaste baring the Colgate label. It is not even a good counterfeit. They misspelled several words. It is being sold in some of the dollar stores and people thinking they are getting a bargain are brushing their teeth with toothpaste with one of the ingredients used in anti-freeze.

            This causes me to reflect upon the days when I was a kid.  Things were not mass produced.  They didn’t have to be.  Mom would send one of us across the street to the grocery store for a gallon of milk when we needed it.  We could buy as needed and not worry about how we keep it from spoiling before it is all used up.  Today what you buy at most Supermarkets is usually picked before it has had a chance to ripen and there are all kinds of things added to preserve it.  After all, it does have to travel half way around the world sometimes and by the time you buy it you really want to use it because it is on the verge of rotten already.

            My dad would spend the summer evenings when he got off work tilling and caring for a garden.  Mom had a pressure cooker and what we didn’t eat during the summer was preserved using glass jars which would be stored in the summer kitchen till next summer when the garden produced again. 

            I still remember Dad behind a plow, pushing it down the yard several times until the soil was ready to plant.  The plow did have rings on the front.  I am sure they were there to hitch horses to but we didn’t have a horse so my dad worked like one. 

            People complained if the cost of gas went over a quarter.  A gallon of milk cost a quarter.  We would drive to a local orchard for fresh peaches, apples, pears, watermelon, cantaloupe and corn on the cob was available for somewhere near fifty cents a dozen.

            Now the Mom and Pop grocery stores have been driven out of business by giant shopping centers and stores that buy from China or wherever they can buy anything cheap and sell it at a whale of a profit. 

            When you add to this the fact that you fire up that gas guzzler every time you need to go because there is no place across the street any more you begin to realize that for the average American citizen this wonderful “Healthy Economy,” is simply not doing us any good.  The very rich get richer and the rest of us carry the burden.

            I wonder if those big oil tycoons ever considered that once they have destroyed the middle class their money will be pretty useless.  Add to this the problem with global warming and the fact that our kids hopes for a future is in jeopardy and you see that somewhere since the foundation of our nation we have gone astray.  The news media is going on and on about how ethanol is driving the price of corn and other foods up.  Are they not considering that those prices keep rising anyway?

            Frankly, I would not mind the rising prices if I knew the cost was accomplishing something so my kids would have a tomorrow to look forward too.

            Join me.  Send this letter to your congress.  Better write one of your own.  You have a computer.  Do some research and you will agree if do not already, that we need change and we need it now.  I believe that change starts with you and I and we need to see some changes in Washington D.C.

            Please feel free to forward this to friends and family.  Let’s not allow this great nation to down because of selfish greed on the part of anyone.