AN OPEN LETTER TO SPEAKER HASTERT. Representative J. Dennis Hastert has a degree from Northern Illinois University and he serves as Speaker of the House from my district. And right now he has a problem. I like the way Andrew Sullivan put it.

The Republican attempt to change the rules they once supported in favor of keeping Tom DeLay in his leadership post is a revealing turning point. It's that Orwellian moment when you realize that ten years after the Republicans pledged to overturn the self-serving corruption and complacency of the majority Democrats, they have become indistinguishable from the people they once targeted.

It matters not that Representative DeLay is being investigated by a knee-jerk Democratic loyalist prosecutor in Texas. This flap is giving the Democratic opposition -- which, in its current form, has nothing to offer me -- opportunities to play tu quoque -- which Democratic court intellectuals are all too quick to exploit. By all means, defeat the investigation, work to get the prosecutor defeated in the next election, but play by the rules. There's more important work at hand.

Speaker Hastert, your site touts health savings accounts. That is a step in the right direction. I expect this Congress to take steps to end the theft of my nephew's future by current pensioners, which you know as Social Security. The DeLay flap delays the creation of private retirement accounts, a first step toward ending the intergenerational tensions created in Social Security.

Our district continues to grow as people buy houses in districts with better schools. It is time to end the bundling of expensive house with good schools. That requires action on school vouchers, not more "gotcha" over House rules.

Many of my neighbors buy larger cars because the fuel economy standards make it illegal for automobile manufacturers to build large family sedans, leaving the families with choices among trucks masquerading as minivans and trucks masquerading as off-road vehicles. It is time to scrap the fuel economy standards.

Oh, and despite early successes in Afghanistan and Iraq, there are still plenty of terrorists who, as they say in Texas, need killing.

Please stop the squabbling over process and do the work I renewed your contract to do.