Sen. Olympia Snowe took the politically courageous road by using her leverage as a moderate Republican to block the excessive tax cuts proposed by the Bush administration.

We’ve been down this road before.

Tax cuts are a poor way to stimulate economic growth.

If you are for small government, tax cuts work very well. But instead of admitting that this is the goal, the Bush administration claims the cuts will stimulate the economy. This is a message people want to hear.

It takes someone with great personal integrity like Sen. Snowe to swim upstream and reveal that the emperor has no clothes.

By acknowledging the country has debts to pay, is racking up record deficits and this is no time to be throwing money away, our senator is being fiscally responsible. Now it appears as though her own party is turning against her.

The tax cuts that have the least popular appeal and are directed at the richest folks in the country (e.g. the estate tax, the elimination of taxation on dividends) will be included in the limited tax cut package. Senate Republicans will not include the tax cuts that are directed at a broader cross section of the population. Because those tax cuts have broader appeal, they will pursue them later.

I read that an upcoming campaign criticizing Sen. Snowe will be funded by a PAC called “The Club for Growth.” Everyone should recognize the ads for what they are: an attack by extremists on a fine public servant.

Denis Bergeron,Auburn