If politics were rational, and voters fully informed, the re-election of Kansas Reps. Jim Ryun, Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran, Republicans all, would be highly unlikely. Voters would look at what these lawmakers have done to them personally, and to our beloved country, and calmly vote them out.

What have they done? They gave the 2001 surplus to the rich, and then borrowed $2.7 trillion from China and other nations -- $9,000 of debt for each of us -- in just five years.

They said about the inherited Clinton surplus, "It isn't the government's money; it's your money." And immediately distributed most of it to the wealthiest Americans.

But that was only a beginning. Each year since 2001, the GOP cabal, using essentially only Republican votes, has passed more tax cuts that increased budget deficits, increased the national debt and benefited primarily the rich.

Don't take the word of this fiscal conservative, but let Richard Armey, former Republican House majority leader, tell you about how Republicans are breaking the bank.

Armey recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal: "Since 2002, federal spending has increased by 47 percent, earmarking abuse is rampant, and the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit has created $18.2 trillion in unfunded liabilities on future taxpayers. And while GDP growth has been good and unemployment remains low, there are a number of American households who have seen their income remain flat for the past five years."

Armey is correct: The gross domestic product is growing and unemployment is low. If you throw enough borrowed money at the economy, it must heat up. While celebrated economist John Maynard Keynes advised deficit spending for overcoming recessions, Republicans adopted it from day one of the Bush presidency.

While each Republican representative must take responsibility for this reckless spending, Ryun, R-Topeka, a member of the budget committee, is particularly culpable. It is his responsibility to make certain government does not overspend. But Ryun has been so complicit in this spending orgy that his colleagues are considering him for chairman of the budget committee.

If we use the popular drunken sailor analogy, Ryun is the one who sets them up again and again.

What are Republicans buying with your money? First of all, they are not buying victory in Iraq. That war is "off-budget" and not included in the current annual deficit of nearly $300 billion. But they are buying their re-elections.

To direct their favors, they write laws with lobbyists at their side and Democrats literally locked out. And they have increased earmarked appropriations that specify recipients nearly tenfold to 14,000. They are effectively spending your money to buy their campaign contributions, knowing that nine times out of 10, the candidate with the most money wins the election.

Earmarked expenditures also buy votes by permitting Republican incumbents to brag about federal dollars they are bringing to their districts.

Republicans are sacking Washington, D.C., more effectively than the Visigoths sacked Rome 17 centuries ago. And it's a team effort that will stop only when team members such as Kansas Republicans are defeated.