THE WRONG QUESTION

        The Republicans are asking the wrong question, and the Democrats need to make that point.
        The question is not, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”  The question should be, “Is our nation better off now than it was four years ago?” The answer to the latter question is a resounding YES!
        Our nation is moving in the right direction. Even though unemployment is still far too high, for the past twenty-seven months istead of losing jobs, we are gaining jobs. Thanks to the stimulus, more than four million private sector jobs have been created. Many small businesses have been helped.
        The housing market is improving; home prices are rising.
        Thanks to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, women are now getting equal pay for equal work.
        The American auto industry was on the verge of collapse and is now thriving again.
        So, too, a major financial crisis was averted by the Wall Street bailout. The Stock market is flourishing. The Dow Jones Average is nearly double what it was four years ago.
        With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, more than thirty million previously uninsured Americans now have health care coverage, and millions more are benefitting or will soon be benefitting from its other provisions. Because of the Affordable Care Act, the life of Medicare has been extended by at least eight years, at no increase in cost to individuals.
        As to international relations, we are far better off than we were four years ago. The war in Iraq has ended. The end of the war in Afghanistan is in sight. Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization, and many of his henchmen have been eliminated. Al Qaeda, while still a threat, is far less so now than four years ago. America’s place of leadership and respect in the community of nations has been restored.
        These are only a few of the reasons why our nation is better off now than it was four years ago, and if our nation is better off, then everyone is better off, even those who are unemployed, for there is more hope for their future now.
        That is, unless the Republicans win the election and take us back to where we were four years ago!