In this election campaign the real question that one has to ask is not: “Are we better off than we were four years ago?” but rather: "Are we better off than we would have been had things progressed as they did in the years 2004-2008?”

Remember the stock market collapse (Dow Jones around 6,000)? And the steps that put us there (no effective bank regulation, tax breaks for the wealthy, gigantic subsidies for super-wealthy corporations, etc.) are still at the cornerstone of the Republican platform.

We simply must shed the Republican majority in the national House of Representatives in order to avoid further uncooperative efforts simply aimed at getting elected/wealthy, and embarrassing the opposite party, rather than looking to improve the condition of the nation as a whole.

In this regard, Rep. Glenn Thompson has done nothing more than to parrot destructive propaganda.

A vote for Charles Dumas for representative, together with Obama/Biden in November, will represent the best we can do for the moment.

Roger M. Herman Bellefonte