For more than 30 years the Republican Party has told us that we need less government. Now the tea party is chanting we need less government to balance the budget. Since the time of the robber barons we have been told that we need to let business do what they do best, and that is business.

Because of these mantras of the last 30 years we have had business telling government what they will do, and look at what we got. We have business making toys that contain lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and PVC, which can hurt or kill our children. Our food contains harmful pesticides, growth hormones, chemicals and the more common problems like E. coli, all of which can kill us. We have our banks with their ethical and financial problems, and we have all the economic and environmental problems that BP oil company has brought to the table.

It seems that this laissez faire attitude has finally come home to roost. When we need more inspectors and tougher regulations to oversee and rein in business practices, the tea party and the Republican Party are still chanting the same tired mantra.

Are we ever going to learn?

Lawrence Schuchart

Spokane