Dear Editor:
How can the Republicans be claiming that they should set policy and control the agenda of national politics under the leadership of George W. Bush?
Bush has no mandate from the voters to set policy based on the results of the 2000 elections. Bush received less votes than the Democratic candidate Al Gore by more than half a million votes!
Bush gained the White House as the result of timely actions by partisan Republicans like Kathrine Harris and certain Supreme Court Justices. Bush did not win the office by getting more votes than the Democratic candidate!
An electoral mandate only comes from winning more votes than the candidate of the opposing party.
Bush should bow to the will of the American people. He should let the Democratic party in congress set the legislative agenda and the political direction of the nation for the next four years. If Bush wants to unify the nation he should respect the decision made by the majority of voters in the 2000 elections. The voters supported the Democratic agenda!
Bush will only discredit himself to a greater degree by pushing for tax breaks for the rich. He can also disgrace his office by failing to confront price-gouging and price-fixing in the energy industry. Crude oil prices are down. Why is gasoline and home heating oil sky high? Will Bush take the side of his fellow big oil millionaires or yours? Will he investigate natural gas prices and propane prices?
Will Bush abandon our wilderness areas by permitting big oil to exploit these public lands? Will timber and mining interests get the opportunity to plunder these public resources for private profit? The Democratic party opposes these injustices, like the majority of American citizens. Does President Bush and the Republican party agree with the American public?
Stephen Crockett
Al Lawrence