Letter To A U.S. Senator
By Harris Sherline
February 18, 2010

Following is a letter I wrote several years ago to the U.S. Senator who was heading the Republican Presidential Task Force at the time. I am saddened that little has happened to change my perception of the Republican Party. If anything, the situation has deteriorated further.

U.S. Senator (name), Chairman
Republican Presidential Task Force
425 Second Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002

Dear Senator:

I am returning your recent Strategy Poll and solicitation without a contribution. I hope you will take the trouble to read the rest of this letter because it may give you some insight into the thinking of some of your Republican "base".

I am almost 80 years old and a long-time Republican supporter who is totally dismayed by the Republicans' failure to take advantage of their hard-won position as the majority political party in this country in 1994. I am so disillusioned that I am about to change my registration to "Independent." For what it's worth, I am not alone. I belong to a group of about 40 senior citizens who meet weekly. Most of them are strong conservatives, so it may surprise you to learn that a number of them are also voicing the same intention.

We are sick and tired of watching our party being mismanaged to the point that the differences between the Republicans and the Democrats are almost indistinguishable. Republicans talk a lot about limited government, but they have aided and abetted the liberals in increasing its size and cost.

The Republican platform calls for reducing taxes, but for many years the representatives of our party continued to accept higher taxes or "targeted" tax reductions that only serve to make an already overly complex tax system more complicated and which generally do not result in any true savings. As a businessman and executive who is also a retired Certified Public Accountant, I am outraged by the complexity and unfairness of our nation's tax laws.

The Republicans let Clinton (and now Obama) and the Democrats gut the military and until recently you have failed to respond aggressively to their lies and distortions about our values and intentions.

You have participated in creating a political class that no longer thinks about anything but getting re-elected and increasing their compensation from the public trough. When is our party going to stop talking about standing on principle and actually do it?

Forgive me if I seem bitter or cynical. It has taken me a long time to get this way, and it has been a very painful and frustrating process. This letter is only the tip of the iceberg of the depth of my feelings.

Many members of my family have served and sacrificed for this country. My father fought and was seriously wounded in France during WW I, my brother spent four years in the Navy during WW II and lived through eleven major sea battles, I served in the Army in Korea and many of my other relatives have similar records of military service. Sadly, I now find myself nearing the end of my years and losing hope for the future generations of Americans. I have six grandchildren, and I am beginning to despair for them.

Finally, I would like to point out that your letter is downright patronizing. I find it astounding that anyone would believe many of the statements that were made in your appeal for financial support. Some of them simply insult the intelligence of the reader: "YOU are on my TOP PRIORITY list of people to recruit as Task Force members," is but one example.

Who's kidding whom?

I could say much more, but if you have read this far, you have probably heard enough. The bottom line is that neither the Republican Party nor any of its candidates can expect to receive any financial support from me unless and until some major changes are made in their actions. I am no longer interested in the things Republicans say, only in what they do.

Sincerely yours,

Harris R. Sherline

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