After watching the Bush administration in power for the past four and a half years, aided by a subservient, Republican-controlled Congress, it should be clear to all Americans that Republicans simply do not have their interests at heart, only those of the richest among us.

The ways Republicans have failed in all aspects of governance are remarkable. They are now proposing eliminating the mortgage interest and employer-sponsored health care tax deductions to pay for tax cuts destined for the richest 1 percent.

Almost 2,000 Americans are dead because of administration lies about Iraq.

The budget is burdened by a ballooning deficit, which is contributing to a rise in inflation, and poverty has increased every year that George Bush has been in power.

When this country does well, meaning all citizens standards of living go up, the poor and infirm are taken care of. When the federal budget is balanced and the economy grows, when the United States is viewed as a leader in the world and not as a corrupt bunch of ideologues, when jobs are created to employ Americans rather than shipping their jobs abroad, all these things happen when Democrats are in power.

I would ask others if they are better off today than they were when Bill Clinton was in office? Is the country? The armed forces? The economy? Medicare?

It is time to make this country great again, and it will be done with Democrats leading the way.

Dave Chirayath, Auburn