America is a republic — a government where power should belong to all the people — but it’s becoming an oligarchy — a country ruled by a small group of wealthy people.

The Republican party is heavily funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, who want to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, workers’ rights, Food Stamps and the EPA, all while giving the rich more tax cuts.

Republicans say deep cuts to social programs save money, but when people are poor it kills the economy, which runs on many consumers buying products.

Republicans said Bill Clinton’s tax hike on the wealthy would cause a recession, but it caused an economic expansion.

Republicans say that they want to create jobs, but cut budgets so that thousands of jobs are lost.

They claim they’re not waging a war on women, but they oppose equal pay. They don’t want birth control covered by insurance, but expect insurance to pay for Viagra.

They squawk about the deficit, but the Republican-controlled House just voted to make some tax cuts permanent, adding $287 billion dollars to the deficit.

Dick Cheney and others have advocated military adventurism, which adds many billions to the deficit.

They claim they want to “save” Medicare and Social Security while surreptitiously trying to cut both programs.

They are financing tax cuts for millionaires by cutting spending that helps the rest of us, ignoring the American people’s wishes.

We should ignore what those politicians say and, instead, watch what they do.

Ellen Field, New Gloucester