2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the Editor 2
Charles Hammond Jr. Ph.D.
Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: Viewpoints
Jared Stanley's letter to the editor (11/11/08) exemplifies the kind of thinking which this country resoundingly rejected on November 4th. The notion that anyone who disagrees with the Jareds of the world on this or that controversy is somehow unpatriotic or un-American is patently infantile.
For example, the Constitution of the United States says nothing about abortion. That's why we have a Supreme Court. And the official position of the Supreme Court of the United States for more than a quarter century is that a woman has a right to an abortion. That is the position of the Supreme Court, not just Barack Obama.
I also find Mr. Stanley's adulation of the military profoundly disturbing.
Politically speaking, the members of our military are civilians and their votes do not count any more or any less than any other citizens'. Similarly, do not lose sight of the fact that the founders of this country established a Republic, not a military dictatorship.
That is why they put a civilian in charge of the military, and that is why the military is an instrument of foreign policy but does not make foreign policy. And that's a good thing.
Mr. Stanley demands that we stay in Iraq, but does not feel it necessary to explain how on earth we are supposed to maintain a $12 billion dollar a month occupation while the country is broke.
Perhaps he thinks borrowing billions from China every month will somehow make the US more secure, but I do not share this opinion.
It's this kind of myopia that leads to disaster. Finally, Mr. Stanley suggests we should "pray that a good candidate will arise in 2012."
Would it not be more reasonable - nay, more AMERICAN - to pray that President-Elect Obama be guided by wisdom and thoughtfulness and that his decisions be sound ones?
After all, we're supposed to be Americans first, and partisans second. It is the wisdom that is inscribed on our currency - "E Pluribus Unum": from the many, one.
For example, the Constitution of the United States says nothing about abortion. That's why we have a Supreme Court. And the official position of the Supreme Court of the United States for more than a quarter century is that a woman has a right to an abortion. That is the position of the Supreme Court, not just Barack Obama.
I also find Mr. Stanley's adulation of the military profoundly disturbing.
Politically speaking, the members of our military are civilians and their votes do not count any more or any less than any other citizens'. Similarly, do not lose sight of the fact that the founders of this country established a Republic, not a military dictatorship.
That is why they put a civilian in charge of the military, and that is why the military is an instrument of foreign policy but does not make foreign policy. And that's a good thing.
Mr. Stanley demands that we stay in Iraq, but does not feel it necessary to explain how on earth we are supposed to maintain a $12 billion dollar a month occupation while the country is broke.
Perhaps he thinks borrowing billions from China every month will somehow make the US more secure, but I do not share this opinion.
It's this kind of myopia that leads to disaster. Finally, Mr. Stanley suggests we should "pray that a good candidate will arise in 2012."
Would it not be more reasonable - nay, more AMERICAN - to pray that President-Elect Obama be guided by wisdom and thoughtfulness and that his decisions be sound ones?
After all, we're supposed to be Americans first, and partisans second. It is the wisdom that is inscribed on our currency - "E Pluribus Unum": from the many, one.
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