Recently, a political fundraiser contacted me for a donation. During our discussion, I asked whatever happened to “government by the people, for the people.”

Deja vu. 1971 Washington and around 200,000 were chanting the same thing. Look where we are at now.

Politicians have put themselves up on a pedestal.

They make salaries that most Americans only dream about; they have health care that most Americans will never come close to having; they have generous pensions where most Americans don’t even know what that is. We will be lucky to have anything in savings.

By the people. I just don’t see it.

On the news a few days ago, Mitt Romney gave the president a grade of F for his three years in office. To me that just showed his true colors.

When Barack Obama took the oath of office, banks were going under like not seen since the Depression, major corporations were going under, jobs were being lost by the thousands per day, the housing market was collapsing, and we already had about $10 trillion in debt.

Somehow, three years later, the banks are somewhat more stable, the major corporations are making a profit again and hiring, jobs are slowly coming back, and housing is slowly picking back up.

We are out of George W. Bush’s Iraq and Osama bin Laden is gone. An F? Come on, be real.

Did he add to the debt? Without a doubt.

A few hundred billion would have been chump change. The numbers had to be big to do anything. We could have let it all collapse as some of the rich, who had plenty to live on, wanted. I don’t think that is what most Americans wanted. Let’s get some “by the people” in office and money out.

Ralph Doiron

Detroit