Be a part of the solution, GOP

The Republicans seem not to know that the time for partisanship is over. America faces a crisis of well being, the essentials of health, job, wages, shelter, and perhaps soon food and clothing, too, are on the line and need quick rescuing before it's too late. Rather than say, "It stinks," Mr. Republican senator from South Carolina, why aren't you and the other naysayers and blockers advancing a package of your own? Any child can find fault with anything. Senators and representatives are elected to act like grown-ups, elected to lead the country out of this economic quagmire, not carp and find fault. How about a constructive plan from the Republicans? If you have a way out, advance it. Or put it up along side the president's for bipartisan collaboration to find a solution. God knows, President Obama is open to it. The Republican acquiescence to genuinely anti-conservative initiatives of the Bush administration for the past eight years has led us into this mess. Republicans stood for deregulation and lax regulation of our financial institutions; they approved of no-bid private contracts to fight the war in Iraq to the tune of billions of dollars, largely wasted; they allowed Bush to recklessly spend down the surplus of millions in the U.S. Treasury that Bill Clinton left him with, without counting the cost. Their irresponsibility, their lack of accountability is painfully transparent now. Suddenly now, they reclaim their so-called conservative principles and stand against the welfare of our people by playing politics over the stimulus package. Never has hypocrisy been so blatant and so rank. Get on with it, Republicans, I challenge you to become real statesmen and be part of the solution instead of being, as you are now, part of the problem.

Marion J. Reis

Wheaton