To the editor:The money we pay in taxes is there to pay the expenses of operating the government within the bounds of the Constitution. Instead, our politicians are using it to buy votes by giving away benefits welfare, health care, etc. from the public trough. In doing so they appear to be caring and concerned, but the real motivation is to build their own personal power base, assure their own re-election and heighten their chances of moving to a higher office. The Obama plan supported by the Democrats who don’t dare object because that would be political suicide to expand the tentacles of government is to make more of us dependent on government for our existence control over the proletariat. Where did we ever get the idea that the government had the obligation or the authority to bail out private businesses, take over the control of banks and manufacturers, and even approve the pay their executives receive?The usurped, unconstitutional and unrestricted assumption of authority by this administration has reached proportions never experienced in this country. It runs counter to the principles and practices that made the prosperity of this country the envy of the world. Left unchecked the dictates of this government will become so burdensome and restrictive we will reach a point in which the sheer cost and the individual freedoms we lose along the way will be beyond our ability to pay for or reverse. When that occurs, who’s going to pull the wagon when everyone wants to ride?DIANA ARENDTFlagstaff

via azdailysun.com Letters.