Since the Bush-Cheney team was elected last November and the Republicans increased control of Congress, GOP objectives have become increasingly clear. In the few months that they have been in office they have offered proposals that underline their values:

• They would continue the program of tax cuts for the wealthy even as the national Treasury approaches closer and closer to bankruptcy.

• Through privatized accounts they would destroy Social Security.

• They would poison our air and water in order to serve the interests of

  corporate polluters.

• They would destroy Medicaid by eliminating support for those in desperate need of government assistance, and thus leave them destitute and in danger of death.

• They would subsidize energy corporations while destroying the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a jewel among our national wildlife reserves.

• They would destroy rural America by eliminating farm subsidies.

• They would manipulate Congressional rules in order to protect their leader, Tom Delay, who has been admonished time and again for ethics violations.

• By modifying Senate Rules through their nuclear option they would undermine the historic tradition of the Senate that allows continued debate over controversial issues and nominations.

These may be the values of corporate and wealthy Americans, but they are not the values of mainstream Americans. These folks just don?t get it. It should be clear to anyone connecting the dots that Republicans have but one goal: to bankrupt the nation while promoting the interests of wealthy Americans.

Emma L. Franklin

Southeast Missouri State University

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