First, you speak of sacrifice, when you were voting to support President Bush’s budgets, and his separate war funding bills, where was the sacrifice? It is obvious to anyone who has served in the military that the only sacrifice President Bush or the GOP asked was from those of us who wore the uniform. He, and you, wanted to keep the idea of sacrifice as far from the mind of the American people as possible. In fact, I would argue that not only did your party and Mr. Bush not have any interest in asking anything hard of the American people – but you were interested in actually lifting any sense of responsibility to sacrifice from the American people by not even asking us to pay for this war – something that should have been your responsibility to ask, and our responsibility to pay.

Secondly, you speak of balancing the budget. I agree it is a serious issue, and I, like you, have serious questions about a national debt that is only growing at a time when our national promises to the Baby Boomer generation are coming due. However, it is hypocritical at best for you, a supporter of an ever growing national debt under President Bush to turn on President Obama and now speak of fiscal responsibility. Where was your call for sanity while President Bush was increasing our debt from six to twelve trillion dollars? To note that this increase was at a time of fiscal “prosperity” is particularly galling.

Thirdly, you speak of the stimulus package and bank bailouts, you state your concerns that they may or may not work. But, you offer only empty rhetoric above; what exactly is your solution? It has to be something other than just saying no – and offering scare tactics of your own without presenting a concrete counterplan.

Finally, on the subject of scare tactics, it is extremely galling to read the words of one of the most loyal of President Bush’s supporters authoring a piece a central issue of which is scare tactics. If there was ever a President and a party that used fear as a policy tool it was your party and President Bush in the years following 9/11. To think that we were subject to the whims of a Presidency which saw itself as expansive and imperial at a time when the party of “small limited government” was in power, and yet that party did nothing but cheer on the Constitutional abuses, the growth and reach of Federal power including, the expansive growth of the size of the government, the terrifying reach of that power – to include warrantless wiretapping and the imprisoning of individuals captured on American soil without a trial or any legal rights, or even as we learned recently the imposition of legal opinions by Republican appointees which would have permitted a suspension of the Bill of Rights (1st and 4th Amendments) by the President. Frankly, the list of governmental abuses heaped upon the American people by President Bush and your party in the name of fear is in itself terrifying.

Sir you, and President Bush were given eight years, six years of total control to address the hard issues. You and your party had the opportunity and the power to come to the American people – to speak of shared sacrifice and responsibilities of the American people: Sacrifices to ensure that we make the hard decisions now and we don’t leave our children saddled with a debt they can never pay back, and the responsibility to not make changes to our national structure on the basis of fear. You and your party failed on both counts.

However, this does not mean that I don’t believe that there is a role for the GOP in the future. I hope that you continue to hold President Obama and the Democratic leadership’s feet to the fire. Ask of them, and encourage them to ask of our nation, that which you were unwilling to do while the GOP was in power – speak as you do of shared sacrifice and the responsibilities of citizenship – such as paying our fare share in taxes to ensure that we don’t leave our children in a sea of debt thanks to the irresponsible policies of the Bush Administration and the as yet unknown errors of the Obama Administration. But, in doing so, offer ideas – and turn against the fear rheteroic esposed by those who see only black and white on your side, such as Rush and Hannity. Prove that you are more concerned with the future of the nation than you are with continuing in Congress, please ask the hard questions, and ask us to be responsible citizens of this great nation going forward.