In reading Trey Hoffman’s comments regarding liberals (“Liberals seem like poor losers”), it occurs to me that he has an identity crisis.

I assume from his letter of 10/19 that he views Republicans, including the President, as conservative. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m surprised that it hasn’t occurred to more Republicans that the current Republican administration in Washington is among the most LIBERAL of any administration in modern times. The proof is clear and abundant, and is becoming more so with each passing day. Consider:

1. Fiscal policy. How is it, despite Iraq and hurricanes, that our federal budget deficit and discretionary spending is a tsunami of red ink? The liberal Republicans of the current administration throw money at pork willy-nilly and run up huge debts no matter the consequences. My conservative forebears taught me that you don’t spend what you don’t have.

2. Energy policy. How is it that, content with ridiculously low fuel efficiency standards, the liberal Republicans are happy to use oil resources as if they were inexhaustible?

This liberal thinking exposes us to the whims of the religion (you know, the religion of the government of Saudi Arabia from whence 15 out of 19 of the 9/11 hijackers came) which this president has said we must defeat?

To my conservative (do you notice that word “conserve” in the word “conservative”?) way of thinking, if the liberal Republicans truly were conservative, the policies would be those of a wise caretaker prudently managing a dwindling resource. You think our nation’s security and $3 a gallon for gas are issues now? Just wait.

3. Military policy. How is it that the scum responsible for 9/11 (remember Osama Bin Laden?) is still alive and breathing? If the liberal Republicans truly were conservative, it would be abundantly obvious that an eye for an eye, and then some, would be a good place to start and then FINISH as the first and most important priority in dealing the terrorists led by (what’s his name?) Osama Bin Laden.

In addition, anyone with half a military brain, and I am a veteran by the way, knew that 20,000 troops, in a country with 275,000 square miles of topography infinitely worse than the Badlands, would not constitute the conservative, i.e., overwhelming force required to guarantee bringing that man (what was his name, Osama Bin Laden?) to justice. I won’t even go there as concerns Iraq because I could fill up the entire newspaper with the liberalism of the debacle.

4. Immigration policy. How is it that illegal immigrants are, essentially, welcomed with open arms, and treated in many cases better than our own legal citizens? To my conservative mind, I wonder why the liberal Republicans don’t enforce the laws on the books. I suspect our forefathers are spinning in their graves as we speak.

5. Judicial policy. How is it that, in the glaring light of our liberal president’s latest Supreme Court nomination, one issue, Roe v. Wade, is this liberal president’s litmus test for qualification to serve on the highest court in the land?

I’m amazed that the current liberal Republicans can say, “We need a judge who won’t legislate from the bench,” with a straight face.

Personally, I’m against abortion, and have living proof in my life of the wisdom of my views, but basing qualification for the Supreme Court on one issue is naive and myopic at best, far from conservative, and considering the scope of other cases to arise in the future, an ominous sign.

6. Washington politics. How is it that this liberal president, who shouted promises to clean up the swampy mess of politics inside the beltway and restore integrity to the White House, instead primed the pump (read Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, etc.) for an explosion of lobbyists and cronies that has taken swamp politics and the liberal Republicans to a new low?

A true conservative should recognize that a Republican who is truly conservative would know that less is more, especially where Washington is concerned, and that integrity really does matter in life. Really.

Sadly, there’s plenty more, but if you don’t see the sheer and flat-out disgusting liberalism of the current Republican administration by now, you probably never will.

Suffice it to say that I can’t think of a single governmental issue that affects my life where I don’t see rampant liberalism in the current administration.

The matter at hand isn’t the “poor loser” liberal Democrats, but the liberal Republicans who are soon to be losers because they’ve forgotten what it means to be a conservative.

Paul Wilder
Peachtree City, Ga.