As a former Hanford worker, I love acronyms. And now there is a perfect one to describe our current government -- SOCKS -- Same Old Can Kickers. It is hard to believe that we, the voters, overwhelmingly returned so many of these to Washington, D.C., in the last election.

These poor old SOCKS reflect the years of being pulled on and stretched by lobbyists and special interest groups. And they just start to smell bad after being around for so long.

Let me say once again, as so many recent letters to the Herald have said, it's time to commit to replacing all of them ASAP with ones who understand how to and commit to preparing meaningful budgets that have provisions for paying down the debt, just like all of the rest of us do at home on a regular basis. It's not rocket science. Let's take back our country -- out with the SOCKS!

RICHARD A. MOEN, Richland