Gingrich is a conservative without a conscience

Thursday, January 5, 2012

To the Editor:

As an independent voter, I have watched with growing disdain as the Republican Party has moved in directions I strongly disagree with. And now Newt Gingrich is the Republican presidential party front-runner. That’s pushed me over the top.

For over 30 years, government bashing has been a major Republican Party strategy. As a result, regulations and the social safety net have been dismantled, and the greedy destructive side of capitalism has been promoted. This failed approach is at the heart of the Wall street disaster, which is going to take 10-12 years to straighten out, if we are lucky.

It’s very ironic that now Obama is branded a big spender when Bush-Cheney cut taxes to the rich, led us into quagmire wars, and ran up record debt. The aggressive use of our military force is central to traditional Republican thinking, and yet the military uses up over 60 percent of the federal budget. Also kissing up to the rich has now created massive tension between the haves and the have-nots, and the “trickle-down” economics is a gross failure.

Placating to the extremists within the Tea Party has led directly to the gridlock in Washington, and a do-nothing Congress is the sad result.

Hiding under “compassionate conservatism,” a number of Republican leaders such as Dick Cheney, Tom First, Carl Rove, Grover Norquist, Tom Delay, and New Gingrich have a track record of immoral, arrogant, and authoritarian behavior that has greatly damaged our democracy.

As House Speaker, Gingrich became a conservative without a conscience. Among other things, he led the charge to impeach President Clinton, and yet Newt hypocritically was doing very similar things. He was censured by the House and lost his job. Then he pocketed $1.6 million advising Fannie Mae, which was a major player in the Wall Street meltdown.

Newt has demonstrated many of the behaviors that give Washington, D.C., a bad name. And now Newt wants to be the leader of the free world.

What is the Republican Party thinking of?

MIKE BEEBE

Lyndeborough.