As Election Day approaches, we who grew up in Republican families should reflect on that tradition. In my lifetime, it’s the tradition of Dwight Eisenhower and Margaret Chase Smith, leaders who helped make this country great. Regardless of particular positions, you knew they had our country’s best interests at heart.

I think John McCain and Olympia Snowe carry on that tradition.

Bush, Cheney and company are not. They are pickpocket patriots who started a war to distract us as they drain away the country’s wealth. They’ve ruined the image of the United States by invading a nation that didn’t sponsor the Sept. 11 attack and didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, but has enough oil to make the Bush bunch even richer. Now they cry “support our troops” while cutting taxes for the rich and powerful, giving us and our kids the biggest national debt in history.

Since they can’t defend their horrendous record, they campaign with smear and fear. They predict terrorism if we don’t vote Republican; they call anyone who questions their dirty little war unpatriotic.

It’s time to recall Sen. Margaret Chase Smith’s Declaration of Conscience: “I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny – Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and SmearWhile it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican Party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people.”

I won’t vote for any Republican until their wrongheaded leadership changes.

Bill Berlinghoff, Farmington

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