To the editor:

The oft-repeated phrase “We have to support our troops” has become America’s King’s X on all logic. While the Democrats and Republicans are fighting over who really supports the troops the most, Medicaid and Medicare are being cut for our most vulnerable citizens, the middle class is being destroyed, our factory workers are losing their jobs, and the financial disparity between the people who work for a living and the rich is getting wider at a record pace.

I want to support our troops, but I also want to support plumbers and nurses and factory workers and teachers and all those people who have worked hard and made this country the great place that it is, but are now retired and cannot afford medical care.

If you ever want to understand why this president and his conservative friends vote the way they vote, all you have to do is determine if the bill supports the top 5 percent. If it does, they want it. If it supports us humble workers, they vote against it. And we and our representatives allow this outrage because they are supporting our troops who are being picked off one at a time in an unwinnable war and that makes them great patriots.

E. Kent Hayes,

Lawrence