Tea party and GOP got us into this mess

It's unfortunate but not unusual that certain facts about the policies of the tea party, past and present, were left out of the April 24 letter ["Tea party's diffuse but populous"] and the op-ed written by Michael Dawidziak ["Dismiss the undefinable tea party at your peril," Opinion, April 20].

In 2001, while we had an economic surplus and were at a point where we could pay off our debts, the Republican Party supported tax cuts, 100 percent paid for in deficit spending.

In 2003, while America was in two separate wars paid for by deficit spending, Republicans and their tea party members supported another round of tax cuts, for the first time in American history during a time of war, paid for by deficit spending.

After people voted for George W. Bush in 2004, Republicans supported his proposal to privatize Social Security. Basically, the idea was to give all that money to the Wall Street gamblers, and we know now how well that would have worked out.

Let's not forget the expensive Medicare prescription drug program or the explosion of earmarks that many "fiscal conservatives" supported. All of which were paid for by deficit spending.

And of course the most recent scam: After being elected recently by ranting about "Obamacare" and jobs, the new Congress has proposed nothing to promote employment in America, except more tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent, and a threat to delay payment to the families of our troops by shutting down the government.

The letter writer confirms why polls show that most Americans see the tea party as part of the Republican fringe, when he chooses to describe those of us who disagree with these failed policies on an intellectual level. To him, people like me are "flag burners" and "redcoats."

The Republican Party supported every single failed policy that led us to the worst economy since the Great Depression. If it really is the "party of personal responsibility," as it likes to bill itself, when will these two raise their hands?

Paul Caerbert, Glen Cove