In supporting the Paul Ryan budget, Romney would privatize Medicare by giving seniors vouchers to buy insurance. But the voucher amount wouldn't be enough; seniors would have to cough up another $6,400 a year to get the Medicare coverage they now receive from the government. I know my senior friends and relatives can't afford that.

And Mr. Romney's endorsed cuts to Medicaid are unconscionable. A record number of folks are in financial distress. Now is not the time to once more ambush the poor. They have suffered enough.

I know that my friends who are working and getting assistance from the government are not just "lying around in a hammock," like Ryan said. They are out working or looking for extra jobs, trying to stretch what little money they have.

In 2010, the average Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program payment to a Virginia family was $389, and the average Virginia Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program payment was $128.63. That's hardly a windfall that allows a family to swing in their hammocks!

But while Mitt Romney is slashing Medicaid and putting more pain on the poor, his plan for the wealthiest Americans is to cut their taxes even more--a tax cut that gives an average of $250,000 to every millionaire in this country.

We are Americans. We are compassionate. We pull together in hard times. The Romney and Republican plan to take from the poor and reward the rich is wrong and unseemly. We can do better.

Clemencia C. Ferguson

Spotsylvania