While we are busy denouncing abusive foreign governments maybe it’s time we take a look at our own. When a leading congressman on the brink of yet another re-election victory is exposed as a drunk and a pedophile, one wonders what else lurks in the hallowed halls of our Congress.

When Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Randy “Duke” Cunningham and William Jefferson, who stashed $90,000 in his freezer, all turn out to be hucksters on the take. When leading lobbyist and Bush pal Jack Abramoff pleads out to a multiplicity of bribes and greedy inside deals and the blundering Patrick Kennedy crashes his car, high on drugs, one has to reflect on the delusions of the powerful and self-indulgence they seem to slip into behind closed doors. These are our representatives?

Tolerating a continued atmosphere of low moral and ethical character results in great irony: The continuation of a losing war 67 percent of the public don’t want, and at home, “a growing economy” in which wages are stagnant, prices are through the roof and few except those at the top are doing well.

It’s time we drop the stereotyped liberal and conservative tin-pan banging and demand a better nation, a better economy, an end to this absurd war and honest leaders who will do their job which is bringing into law the needs and desires of the American public – not feathering their own nests while serving as errand boys for corporations, defense contractors and VIP contributors.

Dennis Lopez

Rockport