I enjoyed reading the June 26 article about Abby Alger, the college student who started the Real World Republicans Web site to "encourage young people to discuss politics" and, presumably, attract them to the Republican Party.

Even though I'm much older, I probably share a lot of her political views. There's only one problem. In the article, she described herself as "fiscally conservative but socially liberal." If that's true, she's not a Republican; she's a Libertarian. She's in the wrong party.

Republicans talk a good game of fiscal conservatism and limited government. But consider the six years from 2001 to 2007. They controlled the White House and both houses of Congress, and the size of the federal government grew. Sure, they cut taxes, but that's the easy part. They never seem to get around to cutting expenses. Of course, had the Democrats been in power, the size of the government would have grown as much, if not more. But at least the Democrats are willing to raise the money (our taxes) so that less of the debt is passed on to the next generations.

The bottom line is that neither major party has made any progress toward a more limited government. For that you need to look elsewhere.

Norm Rosen

Chapel Hill