James Hodgkinson, the man accused of shooting at congressmen and aides Wednesday, had written letters to the editor of the Belleville News-Democrat.

In them, he often railed against Republican and tax policies, and at least once advocated for legalizing marijuana.

Here are some of his letters:

Sept. 12, 2012: The path out of our deficit

The best book I’ve read in a while is “Aftershock” by Robert B. Reich. He explains that the lowering of taxes on the richest Americans was a major cause of the Great Depression. He also states that it is a major cause of the Great Recession, which started in 2007.

He states that the year before the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Recession were both peaks of the incomes of the top 1 percent at more than 23 percent of the total income of the country. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Federal Reserve chairman, Marriner Eccles, brought us out of the Great Depression by raising taxes on the rich.

During the 1920s three Republican presidents lowered tax rates leading up to the Great Depression. In 1931 we had 23 tax brackets from 1.5 percent for incomes up to $59,000 adjusted for inflation (which covered more than half of total population) to 25 percent for income over $1,476,000.

In 1932 we had 55 tax brackets from 4 percent for incomes up to $65,500 up to the 42nd tax bracket of 50 percent, which was equal to the top income of the previous year. Then the added tax brackets kicked in. Fifty-one percent to 56 percent were brackets increasing by approximately 1 percent for every $40,000. Brackets 57 percent to 60 percent were for income increases of approximately $1 million. Brackets 61 percent to 63 percent were for income increases of approximately $4 million, topping out at 63 percent for income over $16,378,000. Now that is what we need today.

July 29, 2012: Trying to buy tax breaks

One of my favorite TV shows is “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC.

On a recent show she stated that 17 very rich men are supplying the Republican Party with more than 60 percent of their campaign contributions.

These men are trying to buy our country. You know they expect something for all this money. That something is that Mitt Romney and a Republican Congress won’t raise their taxes. We all know that the rich don’t pay enough taxes.

In response to letter writer Roddy D. Riggs calling me ignorant and making up facts, I say: Look up “Causes of the Great Depression,” on Wikipedia. Income inequality is on the list. This theory was held by economists Waddill Catchings, William Trufant, Rexford Tugwell, Adolph Berle and John Kenneth Galbraith and influenced Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It held that the economy produced more goods than consumers could purchase because the consumers didn’t have enough income. In the productive 1920s, the mechanization of industry caused layoffs and unemployment started a steady rise but the rich got richer.

If the rich paid their fair share of taxes today, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. We need to vote all Republicans out of Congress. We need to demand Congress add 10 or more brackets to the existing tax code. We need 20 brackets to $20 million, and a 60 percent top marginal rate.

We can get our country back if we all vote the right way.

July 8, 2012: Obama’s for U.S. workers

I can’t believe how many people are upset with our president. You’d think that the world was full of rich millionaires. Why else would these people talk badly about a guy who has their best interest at heart?

I read the other day about a man blaming President Barack Obama for food stamp recipients going up from 26 million to 46 million. Anyone with a knowledge of the facts would know that this is because of former President George W. Bush, and his ruining our economy. He got us into two wars that we couldn’t afford and gave all his rich friends tax breaks.

If people would check the causes of the Great Depression, they would find that income inequality was one of the major causes. Because of this fact, President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress raised taxes back up to what they were before the Republican Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge and tax cuts of 1921, 1924 and 1926, leading to the Great Depression.

If we don’t want another Great Depression, we should re-elect the man who is working for the working man. President Ronald Reagan’s “trickle down” policy did not work, and never will.

A strong middle class is what a country needs to prosper. The only thing that has trickled down in the last 30 years came from Mitt Romney’s dog.

Let’s vote all Republicans out of Congress, and get this country back on track. We need 10 more tax brackets for income over $1 million, $2 million, $3 million, $4 million and $10 million.

May 25, 2012: Use 55 tax brackets, not six

It is a shame that Democrats won’t attack the Republicans over the minuscule and lopsided tax system with only six brackets, ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent. It looks like the super rich have bought their vote as well. This recession was started years ago when congressmen found out they could make money by accepting money from the super rich in the form of donations, by simply changing the tax laws and putting more of the burden on the working man.

You see, we have always had a progressive tax system. In fact, in 1932 we had 55 brackets ranging from 4 percent to 63 percent. Everyone paid 4 percent for the first $4,000 income, which would amount to more than $50,000 today. The top marginal tax bracket was 63 percent for all income of more than $1 million, which would amount to more than $12 million today. Now I think everyone would like to see the rich and the super rich taxed at a higher rate.

The argument today is taking away the Bush tax cuts or not, which would add only 4 percent to the top marginal rate. The argument should be to rewrite the tax laws as they were in 1932. We need 55 brackets ranging from 4 percent to 63 percent. Anyone can look up the history of federal income tax rates on the internet. Check it out.

These guys are cheating everyone in this country while telling us all the time that they are broke when it is the super rich with all the money.

Jan. 24, 2012: Moneymaking ideas

I believe to stimulate the economy, it is time to legalize or at least decriminalize marijuana use.

Also to fund the government deficit I hope the Obama administration raises the income tax rate for the rich to 70 percent or more. If a person has an annual income of more than $10 million, he should be proud to be an American and proud to live in a country that would allow this kind of income, and proud to pay his fair share of taxes.