Can the U.S. survive another Republican presidency?

It took this country 204 years, from George Washington to Jimmy Carter to amass a national debt of $1 trillion. Since then, from Ronald Reagan to the present, a span of 28 years, the national debt has increased to $9 trillion. The only time the debt actually went down was during Bill Clinton’s presidency, when the country ran a surplus in subsequent fiscal years.

At the start of his presidency in 2001, George Bush deregulated the financial industry, which spawned subprime mortgage loans with increased risk.

Today, the nation faces the consequences of that degregulation, with the meltdown resulting in home foreclosures and the daily collapse of financial institutions. Wall Street officials have been quoted as saying that things haven’t been this bad since the Great Depression.

Recently, due to deregulation, the federal government had to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the largest mortgage lenders, which were verging on collapse. With a stroke of a pen, Bush made the country responsible for $5.5 trillion in home loans.

And unlike past wars, not one penny of the war in Iraq has been paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Every dollar of the cost has been borrowed.

Sen. McCain wants to continue Bush’s policy of an increase of tax cuts for the rich, further deregulation, and more borrowing for the war in Iraq.

During the writing of this letter, the nation’s debt increased another $93 million.

James P. Bossie, Lewiston