We’ve heard legislators talk about the health reform bill now for months, leading me to think about the current condition of our state and nation.

Why is there so much infighting among our legislators? Why are some of our elected officials so bent on causing waves?

They need to be spending less time on a 2,000-page health care reform bill and more time figuring out how to help their constituents keep or find jobs, provide sufficient funding to our schools to educate our children, and develop programs to provide overall stability to our economy.

More importantly, the government should not be in the IOU business of saying they’re going to make payments to school districts and then taking them back or making late payments, throwing districts into turmoil.

We need to get back to basics.

Elected officials need to respect each other and higher-ups. They need to set the example for the rest of us to follow instead of being an embarrassment on CNN.

And it is embarrassing. I watched some of the debates on the health care bill and it seemed to me that it has become a fight to the death instead of negotiating the best plan for all concerned.

Congressional leaders are fighting the wrong fight. Instead of fighting for their pride, they should be fighting our well-being.

— susan berg