Hello.

Don’t know if you guys check out this blog (you should), but here goes:

There are elections next year.  Now, there are good Democrats and bad Democrats.  Good Progs and snot-nosed Progs.  And, I believe it is safe to say, there are good Republicans too.  I include the two of you in this category, and I remember what Jim Jeffords did in 2001.  But, fellas, your Party nationally is becoming something beyond the pale.  It’s not just the Tea Party nitwits who have joined your Party.  It seems like the entire Republican Party has an agenda that would not only repeal what’s left of the New Deal and Great Society, but also many basic Constitutional rights, all in the interests of the Very Very Rich and the Corporate Persons who are using your Party for their own self-interests, rather than the good of the country.

National Security should also encompass Economic Security for all the people.  Union busting, the attack on Collective Bargaining, the downsizing of social programs (including FDR’s Social Security), and the overall War On The Poor (as opposed to LBJ’s War On Poverty) seem to have become solid planks in your Party’s Platform.  And this is really really BAD.  It is Un-American.  (Bill–Do you collect Social Security?)

Your Party nationally seems to have lost its Moral Compass, and is also providing aid and comfort to the enemies of this nation.  What the Hell is the story, guys?  And where do the two of you, and other Vermont Republicans, stand?  Because next year’s elections should not be about which Party is going to give more to the Rich and the Corporate Person.  Do you think the Republican Party will win on that kind of platform?  Come on!

I would ask the two of you, and other Vermont Republicans, to come out on record opposing the direction your Party has taken nationally, and reaffirm some old fashioned Republicanism that used to hold the public good and the nation’s good over all the interests of our enemies, either foreign or domestic.

Can you do that?

Of course you can.

Oh, and show us some meat and potato programs you have for the working poor in Vermont.  Not just talk.  Real action.  After all, if your Party succeeds in eviscerating all federal programs, it will be up the the Vermont Legislature to take care of Vermonters.  And not just the ones who can vote.

Thank you,

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt