I have some questions. First, the tea party organizations say they want to take back their country. If they get what they see as their country, they will take my country from me. The question is how do they plan to do that? If they do it by allowing democracy to work – without lies, half-truths and racism (which I am convinced is their primary motivation) – that’s fine with me. That’s the American way. I’ll be disappointed, but I can live with it. I’ll work to get my country back, but I’ll do it without the anger, slander, lies and bigotry.

My second question is this: Why are the Republicans so concerned about government spending? During the George W. Bush years, the Republican government spent billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives on an off-the-books war the administration lied us into. That spending and those lost lives didn’t seem to bother the Republicans. A very large percentage of the deficit they are so vocal about now resulted from Bush’s war and his plutocratic tax cuts to the very rich. They willingly allowed money to be spent to kill people and benefit the very rich but are now horrified that money is being spent to save lives and see to it that everyone has an equal opportunity to “pursue happiness.”

I’m not a history scholar. I did, however, research the major recessions in the history of this country. I also checked who was president during or just before those recessions. In every recession or depression except one under Andrew Jackson, that president was a Whig or Republican. Someone please correct me with historically factual information if I’m wrong.

If I can’t get reasonable answers to those questions, I’ll have to continue to believe that Republicans do not know how to govern. They just know how to run for office.

GORDON KLOPFENSTEIN Fort Wayne