J.C. WATTS COMMENTARY: Americans Struggling With Economic Anxiety

The conservative Republican and former Congressman opines: "As I've traveled around the country talking with people in airports, hotels, churches and in their homes and offices, the refrain I constantly hear is that Washington and Wall Street are clueless and out of touch with everyday people. When we see people protesting in the streets, church parking lots and on Capitol steps, we have to ask why they're doing this. The people who say these events are inauthentic have no clue how viscerally frustrated, angry and insecure these protesters are. Most folks in Washington have no clue about small business people today who have one foot in bankruptcy and one foot out. Washington has no clue what the 22-year-old, the 35- to 45-year-olds, the 50-year-old or the 65-year- old are going through, nor do they understand the anxiety they feel every day. If they did, Washington would not be trying to pass a health care bill that would put a greater financial burden on every person I've mentioned. Washington would not be trying to pass an energy bill that would increase already unaffordable energy costs on these same people. Congress would not be trying to pass a financial services reform bill that would make it tougher for every small business and every consumer in the marketplace to obtain credit."

He continues his commentary: "Instead of the federal government working against these people, they should consider doing a few common sense things:

-- Don't raise taxes. Low tax rates matter when trying to create new jobs. In today's economy, we don't need more taxes, we need more taxpayers. Create an economic environment for people to invest or reinvest, or to expand and grow jobs.

-- Create a sound and predictable regulatory environment. You can't have cryptic regulations that change every other month on the federal level.

-- Create a legal system that discourages frivolous lawsuits. Doctors want to practice medicine in a way they can be aggressive in healing their patients, not practice defensively to keep from getting sued. These defensive measures only increase the cost of health care for all of us."