This is a look at an example of mistaken right wing conceptions. A listing of accomplishments from the current 111 congress and a statement as to why we should stay the course.

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In the letter http://www.thehawkeye.com/storync/Mary-Hoschek-091310 "Too many non payers," the writer's point is more elusive than her commentary. "Until handouts stop more legals and illegals will continue to live off those of us who work for a living." She would have the reader believe that the 43.4 percent of Americans who do not pay federal taxes are all living off the government dime. This quite simply is not true, the key lies in the quote from the Tax Policy center, "An astonishing 43.4 percent of Americans now pay zero or negative federal income taxes."

What are negative federal income taxes? Due to the Bush Tax Cuts, millions of Americans who are the working poor pay no federal taxes. Who are these individuals? They are the men and women across this nation working for minimum wages in the service sector, from, "May I take your order please?" to clerks in all the major department stores. At the end of the year their poverty status qualifies them for extra tax credits. This in turn means they receive income tax returns, hence you have negative federal income tax. While they receive this tax stipend and may be on food stamps, they do work for a living and should not be dismissed so callously. Note that it was W. who installed this policy along with his tax giveaway program to the top 2%, a trickle down theory that failed to create jobs, expediting our current reality.

Regrettably at this time we should not consider letting these tax breaks for the needy expire, as is the policy of the Obama administration. If the right, clamoring for fiscal responsibility, cannot understand the need to stop the tax breaks for those making more than $250,000 a year, how do they ever foresee balancing the budget? We need stringent regulations on big business, as they continue to promote the elimination of the minimum wage law and outsourcing. Unless regulations are put in place, the percentage of Americans not earning a taxable income will only grow. The far right's policies will guarantee that good manufacturing jobs will never return to this nation.

Too many students today graduate from college only to obtain jobs working in bars and as gas station clerks. To young voters everywhere: change takes time, stay the current course for another two years and give this administration a chance. After all, it took a few decades to create this problem. How can anyone of an enlightened mind expect it to be fixed in two years? After all, with the Senate supermajority rule in play, we are lucky the economy has leveled off and is showing slow signs of recovery.

On November 2, according to the media, we will see a wave election; that the angry mobs of Teabaggers are going to take this country back. Of course, most of them have no idea where they are taking the country back to. Their knowledge of history impedes them from realizing that the policies they endorse would go beyond their bogus fears of unplugging grandma from life support; that their policies would throw grandma and grandpa out into the streets to starve and/or freeze to death. Most of the six senatorial Tea Party candidates have called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. It is at the top of their list to be eliminated. The Tea Party crowd, in my opinion, even fails to understand why they are so upset. Their anger is caused by the increasing social economic disparity in this nation, class warfare. Still, they let themselves be manipulated by the very individuals who will profit the most, the oppressive 2% of people who control the vast majority of this nation's wealth. This minority extremist crowd is not the key to this election. The key is the base of the Democratic Party.

Granted, the Democrats have done little campaigning to help themselves this election cycle. Therefore, it is up to us, the people, to save our own ample posteriors. We must find what our representatives lack, a backbone. Between now and the election we must attempt to convince our righteously indignant apathetic Democratic and Independent friends that the battle is not lost, it has only begun.

Now, forgive me for a moment. I have to get up on my soapbox and change gears. I acknowledge the good Senator from Iowa, Senator Tom Harkin, and the legendary documentarian Michael Moore for the following talking points. Remind yourself and your voting associates that the 111th Congress has accomplished more, so far, than most of their counterparts throughout history, despite Republican obstructionism. Norman Ornstein, a Congressional scholar, is on record saying, "This Congress is one of the most productive Congresses in history."

So, what, you ask, has this Congress been able to advance?

* The Stimulus: Which many pundits and leading economists accredit with preventing another Great Depression.

*Health Care Reform: While this hasn't gone far enough, it is a starting point.

* Financial Regulatory Reform

* Protection of wage discrimination against women

* A crackdown on the tobacco industry

* Saving the American Auto Industry: Granted they created their own problems, but can you imagine what unemployment would be like if action had not been taken?

* Credit Card Reform: I believe more needs to be done to protect citizens from these criminals that make mobsters look like amateur loan sharks.

* Reforming the Student Loan Program: A beginning in the actions needed to address the decline in America's educational system, action that the President and many are willing to take.

* Extension of unemployment benefits: Can you imagine the added pain and suffering that our neighbors, friends, and countrymen would be enduring without this?

While many of these actions fail to live up to the expectations of the left, we have to remember how Congress works. Considering the unified actions from Republicans (I suspect they share one brain, Glenn Beck's) it is a miracle that any of the above actions were accomplished. While they may not meet my hopes and dreams, they are a starting place upon which we can build a better America.

I will only focus on two items from Michael Moore's "Five Ways the Democrats Can Avoid a Catastrophe and Pull Off the Mother of all Upsets." www.michaelmoore.com. The Democrats should be out campaigning in full force on promoting a moratorium on family housing foreclosures. In fact, a Presidential order enforcing this would go a long way towards improving the Democrats' chances on the 2nd of November. Now, bar none, the number one thing I happen to think should be done and number four on Mr. Moore's list is to create a WPA.

I have stated in letters and columns in various outlets that CCC-style work camps need to be created. There are so many projects that need done in this nation. From a new energy grid, which means the construction of new power lines that will have the capacity to be integrated with smart grid technologies, to rebuilding our aging schools, replacing bridges and dams, not to mention environmental projects within our national park system that could be addressed. How can we finance this, you ask. We can impose a tax on the top 2% of wage earners in this nation and guarantee that we will lower unemployment with this program to 5%. Getting this through the Senate would be a nightmare, you say. Yes. Instead of backing down from a Republican filibuster make them stand their ground and carry one out. It would be interesting to see if they are as committed to their overlords as their unified voices portend.

So the change you wanted is not here in full force. So what?  We have only begun to bring about change. The question of whether or not we continue is up to you and me. We are the key, not a bunch of confused Teabaggers. The clock is ticking. Let's roll the dice and once again prove that the peoples' voices reign supreme.

Authors Bio:

Anthony J. Gerst, is an author/columnist and activist. He resides near the confluence of the Iowa and Mississippi Rivers. His favorite author, Mark Twain, was an editor for the Muscatine Journal near where he lives. Mr. Gerst has offered musings, on whether the massive oaks on his property, were once shade trees for the adventurist and wandering young Aldo Leopold. Mr. Leopold being considered the creator of the modern environmental movement.

He started writing letters to the editor in 1983. In this time, he has been printed on five continents and in various papers across the continental United States. "Ghosts of the Erie Canal," is being reissued spring 2016. His second book "The HAARP Letters (A Climate Changing Reality) was released in Feb. 2016. A third book "Sasquatch Must Die" is a short story and acts a preclude to the above mentioned novella.

From early childhood he expressed an interest in politics. He currently reads Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy Magazine, The Wilson Quarterly and Scietific American on a regular basis. Since early this century his attention has been drawn toward environmental activism. His column, Earth Line in the now closed Galesburg Zephyr was first created to address the issues of Global Warming and climate change.

Many people, who have read his works in various social communities, have remarked upon his philosophy of writing.
Writing to Mr. Gerst is a challenge, an art form of expression. However, beyond this, his view on writing is: if he can challenge one reader to question their opinions, then he as writer has succeded. Why? Because he has made them challenge their own comfort zone.