There is little doubt that the ideological policies of the Republican Party, policies that have been strongly supported by Sen. McCain for decades, are primarily responsible for the crisis facing the financial markets. Their rallying cry of deregulation, that started in earnest under Ronald Reagan and was perfected under George Bush, have allowed investment bankers to run amok. Notwithstanding McCain’s recent flip-flop (he now purports to support some regulation of the financial sector — although he won’t say what those regulations would entail), he is still a “deregulator at heart,” his words earlier this year.

What should be vividly clear to all of us is that there is a role for government to play in regulating markets of all kinds. We cannot rely on the honesty and integrity of corporate leaders to act in a manner that is beneficial to the economy as a whole. Unregulated markets simply do not work fairly or efficiently. Economist John Maynard Keynes, upon whose theories Franklin Roosevelt relied in leading the country out of the Great Depression, proved that there is a role for government in stabilizing and preventing the huge peaks and valleys that are inevitable in a laissez-faire economy.

We also hear the rallying cry of deregulation in the legislative chambers of Olympia. Barbara Bailey screams it louder than most. She, like McCain, is also an ideologue when it comes to eliminating government regulations on business. Time and again she has voted against reasonable regulations designed to ensure that our corporate citizens act in a responsible manner. She follows the Republican mantra of deregulation and relying on market forces to exert discipline on corporate CEOs. It never works, but that doesn’t stop their war cry. We need a change in America and in the 10th District. We need new leadership from the Democratic Party, the party that has proven time and again that it knows how to grow the economy and to create good paying jobs. It is time to take our government back from the legislators who are bought and paid for by corporate lobbyists. Barbara Bailey needs to be replaced.

Nancy Jordan

Oak Harbor