If ever there was a question about what Republicans believe and who they serve, their positions regarding help for the Big 3 automakers settles the matter.

When Wall Street came calling for taxpayer funds to shore up credit for millions of Americans and businesses, Republicans denied responsibility for allowing risky financial schemes to exist. They also sidestepped responsibility for their dismal record of ensuring proper regulatory oversight for a host of industries.

Instead, Republicans attempted to blame Democrats, who had controlled Congress for less than two years. Republicans absurdly exempted their Republican president from the mix.

Intelligent Americans understand that Republicans in power consistently create large deficits with irresponsible tax breaks for their wealthy benefactors who, in turn, ship American jobs overseas. They also know that Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 until 2006, destabilizing the economy with deficit spending.

Rather than changing Republican policies that have consistently undercut America’s middle class and standard of living, Republicans are now attacking the United Auto Workers.

The “blame-the-workers-first” mentality has long been a Republican approach. Republicans bitterly fought against President Franklin Roosevelt’s visionary New Deal.

Recently, America’s elitist Republicans have been trying to rewrite history, saying that Roosevelt’s actions prolonged the Great Depression. That is coming from supporters of the party with a union-busting ideology that has brought America to the doorstep of its second Great Depression in 100 years.

Republicans are consistent in their contempt for hard-working Americans and slavishly loyal to their extremist anti-worker agenda.

Mark Tardif, Waterville