September 1, 2004

Mr. George Soros
888 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10106

Dear Mr. Soros:

Thank you for your letter of August 31, 2004.

Let me say in response that we have a fundamentally different vision for the future of our nation. I think that policies that you and others have promoted are dangerous, radical and extreme. I am most concerned about any efforts to decriminalize narcotics, which I believe will exacerbate an already troubling situation in America. Illegal drug use and drug violence already kills thousands of young people on our streets each month in America. Yet you have funded organizations such as The Drug Policy Foundation, The Open Society, The Lendesmith Center, the Andean Council of Coca Leaf Producers, and several ballot initiatives across the country to decriminalize illegal drug use. Promoting drug use, in my view, will lead to more lives lost and more tragedy for our children. I think this approach is simply wrong.

These were the drug groups that I referred to in my comments on the Fox News Sunday program. Chris Wallace said, "drug cartels." I did not.

You have also founded an organization called Project Death America, dedicated to promoting euthanasia in America. That is another part of your radical agenda with which I strongly disagree.

The American people ought to know that the same people who have fought so aggressively to legalize drugs in this nation and to promote euthanasia are now fighting to defeat George Bush and Republicans in Congress. I would hope that the American people take note of the radical agenda that lies behind the millions of dollars of negative advertising targeted at the President and my colleagues in the Congress. And I would hope that the Democrats who are the principal beneficiaries of these ads would either publicly announce their support of this radical agenda, or denounce both the agenda and those ads.

I never implied that you were a criminal and I never would, that's not my style. I will state clearly that I believe your agenda is dangerous, extreme and wrong for America. I also believe that 527 political organizations set a dangerous precedent for political discourse because we don't know where the money comes from. For all we know, funding for some of the 527s might come from foreign sources or worse. Giving special interests more power and less accountability, while taking power away from political parties is a sad, but inevitable result of the campaign finance law that we enacted into law in the last session of Congress. It is my hope that we will take more effective action in the future to bring more transparency to the political process, as we take equally effective action to limit the power of the special interests.

Sincerely,

J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker of the House

Find out about George Soros' Coup – and his plan to change America – get report Click Here Now.