One of the things that separates Republicans from Democrats is the openness of Republicans to criticize their own party when they feel that their leaders have ideologically failed them.

I believe a majority of Republicans will openly admit they have held their nose while voting for certain Republican candidates or stayed at home in defiance for a certain election in order to punish the party for its misdirection now and then.

Such may be the case in 2008, for if you are a conservative, it is hard to feel any excitement concerning the coming Presidential elections.

The candidates are saying all the right things about fiscal conservatism, cutting spending and enforcing our borders, but how can one take them seriously when these ideals have been abandoned for the past eight years?

2008 may indeed be the year that many conservatives stay home. It may take four years of Hillary and a Democratic Congress to excite the conservative base in 2012, as happened in 1980 when Reagan crushed Carter in a startling landslide.

However, it may be in fact that the Republicans have more to worry about than just a conservative boycott.

I was speaking with a young lady the other day who was in her early 30s. She proudly declared herself a Democrat, which immediately invoked the usual response from me when someone states loyalty like that, “Why?”

She then proceeded to recite some of the usual rhetoric such as the war in Iraq, etc. However, she did say one thing that I have mulled over ever since. She said that the Republicans are spending too much money and growing government far too big and that we need Democrats to reverse these trends.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. At first I thought she was just being sarcastic or silly, but I soon realized that she was being sincere.

After contemplating where she was coming from, I came to realize that people her age and younger, may indeed associate the Republicans with the party of big government and spending.

She of course has no recollection of the collapsing economy of the late 1970s when the controlling Democrats had burdened this nation with a crippling tax rate that approached 71 percent at the top end, which helped contribute to 20 percent interest rates (the prime rate hit a peak of 21.5 percent at one time) accelerating inflation and stagnant job growth.

She has never heard of Barry Goldwater and has no recollection of the Reagan Revolution as the Gipper slashed tax rates that led to the booming economy of the mid ‘80s.

She is not aware of the vision of Newt Gingrich and how in a single election, Republicans startled the political pundits and took over Congress with their highly touted conservative principles and ideals.

No, sadly, all she really knows about the Republican Party is the era in which the [GOP] had total control and squandered it. The era in which they finally had the opportunity to truly implement the ideals of fiscal conservatism and smaller government that we as conservatives have held dear to us for so long, only to desert us once they obtained power.

They have shown that when it comes to spending tax money and growing government, the elephant can run just as fast as the donkey, if not faster.

Of course, should the Democrats take control in 2008, they will probably once again show their true colors as well, and their lucid lust for governmental control over health care and other facets of our economy will once again become self-evident.

Perhaps, there is no difference between the two political parties when it comes to spending. Maybe it’s just a simple fact that the party in power spends our money on stuff that they value, which is labeled as waste to the party currently out of favor.

Maybe both parties should use the pig as their mascot as they both eat from the taxpayer trough with equal desire.

If this is the case, maybe everyone should just stay home in 2008, for what’s the difference?

[That’s a question] you often hear from the left, mere statements that are not supported by any supporting data or factual events, which make them what they simply are, rhetoric.

Brad Rudisail

Peachtree City, Ga.