To the editor:

When our Founding Fathers created our Constitution, they formed it around the concept that our nation would be controlled by the people and for the people. They wanted a government that would represent all the citizens and not just the wealthy, the elite. They knew what it was like to live where the lords and ladies were the tyrannical rulers.

I am convinced that the ultraconservatives led by our president and vice president are in the process of selling our government, our democracy to the richest of the rich, to their good old boy oil buddies, to their no-bid military industrial friends who get billions and never seem to get the job done. I am convinced that their desire to “privatize” much of our government is simply an attempt to take the control away from the people, and we are standing by with our thumbs in our mouths wondering what happened to the middle class.

While we argue over the war in Iraq, the conservatives are giving our country back to the lords and ladies.

We the people, Republicans and Democrats, need to stand up and be counted. We need to take our country back before it’s too late, and we can start at home by electing statespeople instead of political puppets.

E. Kent Hayes,

Lawrence