As the legacy of Republican-appointed Chief Justice William Rehnquist is now written and showing him to be little more than a loyal servant to his Republican masters, Americans may also take stock of the past 100 years of Republican leadership.

They are the party of tax cuts for the wealthy in a time of war; the party of deliberately misleading a nation into a war for oil and profiteering by moneyed Republican boosters; the party of privilege in practice and egalitarianism at election time; the party that actively courted those who left the Democratic party to protest civil rights legislation; the party of fiscal insanity and record federal deficits under three separate presidential administrations, all blaming factors like the Cold War and Sept. 11 for their failures; and the party of Ronald Reagan, whose first act was to crush the airline traffic controllers union.

In 2006, Republicans will be running for re-election, all desperate for power that will not be used to help the majority of Americans, but in practice to protect the monied elites like the Bush dynasty. They will employ Karl Rove’s attack style, misleading campaign tactics to eviscerate all opponents.

Let us hope for the vast majority of working Americans who trust their political leaders to seek fairness for all, that the truth will finally shine upon the Republican Party, their cadre of Fox “Republican” news propagandists and the elites who heap mountains of cash upon them.

Mark Tardiff, Waterville