
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 4, 1993                   TAG: 9306040468
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CRUNCHING PEOPLE FOR THE NUMBERS

THERE IS presently in Congress a strong effort to force a cap on entitlement programs. Such a move sacrifices the people who depend upon services provided by government to an arbitrary figure, agreed upon by those who will not suffer from its consequences. Perhaps members of Congress would like to sit in the Social Services offices of their district when the cap has been reached and explain to those who must be turned away the illogic of the decision made in Washington.

It is a matter involving not just dollars, but people. As a middle-class American, it is my duty, as a citizen of this country, to assist those less fortunate than I am. I believe that the more I have been blessed with material things, the more responsibility I bear for caring for those who do not have enough. I believe that since 1981 there have been assaults on the budget that have victimized the poor, while the middle and upper classes have continued to enjoy the amenities of tax relief provided them. While programs intended to aid the poor were cut drastically on the pretext that they weren't cost-effective, our administration and Congress colluded to increase the Pentagon budget, ignoring the all-too-obvious waste and inefficiencies in defense procurement. And our debt ballooned to $3 trillion. Now, once again, there is an effort to reduce the deficit through the sacrifices of the poor - the victims.

As I see them, the real issues in reducing the deficit and controlling costs of the so-called entitlements are (1) cost containment in the provision of health care, and (2) a more equitable tax structure. The latter should require as much sacrifice on the part of middle- and upper-class Americans as it exacts from the poor through further reduction of needed services. To represent to the people that it is just and fair to cut further the services provided for the disadvantaged not only ignores the people involved. It is also divisive and uncaring. CHARLES E. SHENBERGER SALEM

by CNB