Restore the GOP

Some are describing the Republican Party as the party of "no." This is unfair and not quite accurate. The conservative base with spokesmen such as Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the sideshow carnival barkers have done nothing but ruin the GOP.

The main goal of the conservatives is to achieve power for the sake of just gaining power. If that's the case, why not start a national Conservative Party and run a slate of candidates? Let the hucksters with the microphones come out from behind their curtains and accept responsibility for their words. Stop ruining the Republican Party.

In most elections, you can vote for the Communist Party, the Libertarian Party, the Socialist Party and various others. Why not a Conservative Party? Maybe the answer is that conservatives are just a small number of people with the loudest voices. True Republicans would like to have their party return to their core values of family and fiscal responsibility. The conservative movement is out of step with America.

Therefore, I ask my fellow Republicans the following: Do we want to be the party of "no" or will we become the party of "no longer."

JOE BRANCATO
Whitehall