Ann Kelly’s letter, “Nero and the tea party,” misses the reality of the tea party and today’s economic environment.

Her tea party metaphors of children playing with matches and Nero fiddling while Rome burned more aptly describe today’s baby boomers. Baby boomers have shaped America’s future the last 50 years and will be the first generation to hand this country off to their children in worse shape than prior generations.

During the 1960s, this country put a man on the moon in less than 10 years. Today we can’t drill for oil, build a nuclear plant or lay a mile of new highway without some group spawned by the baby boomer generation throwing up roadblocks of outrage and legal entanglements.

Since the boomers entered politics, we’ve seen the escalation of unfunded entitlements, an economy that is no longer supported by a manufacturing industrial base, an education system that excels in producing social workers, a government hamstrung by gridlock and a culture of “minority elitism,” “class warfare” and “what’s in it for me.”

Baby boomers willingly accrued $14 trillion of U.S. debt and $115 trillion of unfunded liabilities. Passing this legacy on to their children and grandchildren is indefensible. No amount of wealth redistribution will secure the next generation’s future.

No, Ms. Kelly, don’t label the tea party for something they are not. The tea party is a voice of reason that advocates the elimination of matches in the hands of baby boomers and the cessation of their fiddling.

Roy Fullerton

Bend