I know that many of my Republican friends did not intend to inflict irreparable harm on our country when they flipped the lever for George W. Bush in 2000 or 2004. After all, who could have predicted the nearly total collapse of our reputation abroad, our capacity to lead, and our moral standing in the world? A fatally weakened currency worth half of its former value? Two recessions in seven years? Ballooning budgets and deficits? A tripling of gas prices and soaring food costs?

An inexplicable, indefensible, and tragic foreign policy that would ultimately aid our enemies, particularly Iran? Economic policies that would make us increasingly dependent on the world's largest Communist power? The erosion of the founding principles of American democracy, like the separation of powers and the separation of church and state? New levels of governmental incompetence coupled with Orwellian expansion of its powers?

In the spirit of the anti-democratic times in which we live, I ask that those of you who voted for Bush in one of the last two elections to consider sitting out the next one. I appeal to your sense of honor and decency: let someone else try to figure out how to best heal the ghastly, self-inflicted wound to America that is the current Republican administration.

JONATHAN BALDO, ROCHESTER