Oregon Man Castigates Republicans

Why is this letter to the editor great? Read the ones that follow it, or don't and take my word for it.

Rejected ideas won’t help GOP

Republican Rep. Jeff Flake, in a Nov. 6 election postmortem advisory, wrote: “I suggest that we (Republicans) return to first principles.”

For starters, Flake wants to reverse “borrow and spend” Republicanism and limit spending. So much for universal health care. But Americans, ranging from the poorest to the middle of the middle class, need and want real health care.

Next, Flake advocates an unregulated free-market economy. If he means an economy based on sub-prime mortgages, mortgage-backed securities for the stock market and credit-default swaps for the gamblers, then he is opposed by most Americans.

Flake urges a “strong national defense,” which, since 1965, has been a code for perpetrating bloody wars abroad — wars devoid of any American national interest. Most Americans have clearly demonstrated, albeit belatedly, their disapproval of wars such as those in Vietnam and Iraq.

Finally, Flake promotes “traditional values,” which include, of course, a ban on abortion. Most Americans are pro-choice.

In one after another of Flake’s Republican “pillars,” he advocates the current policies of President Bush or a modification motivated by ephemeral convenience. Sounding like Sen. John McCain, Flake says: “We’ve got ’em just where we want ’em.”

The American people have already passed judgment on Flake’s “pillars” and on Senator McCain. If the only new idea Republicans have is Gov. Sarah Palin, they are not only “deep in the political wilderness” — they are beyond rescue there as well.

Leo Quirk

Corvallis

Les coudeauxs to Leo Quirk!