For my generation this election offers a choice between two Americas, the one we grew up believing in (that anything is possible) or one where out-of-control government spending and government intrusion into our lives leave us with limited opportunity to go out and achieve our own American dream.

In 2008 many of my peers fell for Barack Obama and his Democratic allies’ message of hope and change; four years later we are left with less hope than ever and nothing but change in our wallets. Just when I was ready to give up on the political process and believed all politicians were the same, I discovered a new class of leadership. Our own congressman, Marlin Stutzman, joined Paul Ryan and his colleagues on the House Budget Committee in standing up for the American people with their Path to Prosperity Plan.

Stutzman has shown a commitment to all Hoosiers in supporting a budget plan that restores fiscal sanity while protecting Social Security and Medicare for today’s seniors and ensuring it is still around for my generation. Democrats would have you believe that this program takes away this safety net that so many of our seniors depend on, and my generation will one day rely on. The truth is Democrats have demonstrated that inaction is their only plan to solve our nation’s fiscal problems, and with Social Security and Medicare both set to run out of money over the next 20 years, inaction is simply not an option.

The president and the Democratic-controlled Senate have failed to pass a budget in more than three years; they instead want to continue down the path toward bankruptcy. Obama has been president for 1.6 percent of American history, yet is responsible for 31 percent of our national debt. Ryan, Stutzman and House Republicans offer us a plan that immediately cuts spending and will begin to pay down our debt in our lifetime.

KYLE SPRUNGER

Berne