Upstream. A Mohawk Valley Blogzine.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Amish Paradise Lost: An Open Letter To President Bush.

Dear President Bush:

It’s time to bring the troops home from Iraq. I say that, not as a carping liberal critic, but as someone who has voted 95% Republican ever since 1980 when I proudly cast my first vote for Ronald Reagan.

Mr. President, while we are supposedly winning the war against terrorism abroad, we are losing it at home. The terror in our homeland is not terror caused by fanatical Muslims but by our own people, grown American men who storm into schoolhouses and kill young girls.

It’s time to come home and focus on our own spiritual bankruptcy and our own tendencies for terror and violence. Yesterday’s attack on an Amish school was the last straw for me. What happened on 9/11/01 was unthinkable, but what happened on 10/02/06 was also unthinkable.

I voted for you twice, Mr. President. I thought it was right that we invaded Afghanistan. Initially, I also supported the War in Iraq. But I can no longer support the war. We allegedly are exporting democracy to Iraq, but in many people’s minds that has come to mean secret prisons, torture, being detained without counsel, illegal wiretapping, ignoring the Geneva Convention, and ignoring the wishes of the American people embodied in both branches of Congress.

This issue is so serious that I don’t plan to vote for any Republicans this Fall. I am pro-life, pro-military, support the death penalty, and am against gay marriage, but all of those issues are going to take a back seat because the most important issues to me right now are bringing our troops home, restoring civil and human rights for all Americans and for all people who are under the jurisdiction of the American military, and the ending of terror and violence in America, not just by Islamic radicals, but by our own people.

Sincerely,




Daniel T. Weaver

6 Comments:

  • Bravo!! I second your comments.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:36 AM  

  • What is your point? "It’s time to come home and focus on our own spiritual bankruptcy and our own tendencies for terror and violence." You don't say how. What does spiritual bankruptcy mean? The man who did this was reportedly a good Christian.

    By the way, pro-life and pro-death (penalty) are contradictory.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:58 PM  

  • Here, here! Got a petition going?

    To the one who says pro-life and pro-death penalty are contradictory, that is wrong. One kils innicent life for the sake of convenience. The other terminates a criminal for the sake of societal justice. How ironic that pro-life and pro-dealth penalty are claimed as contradictory, then the guy goes on to ask about what spiritual bankruptcy is. Duh.

    By Blogger Rebecca Mecomber, at 3:40 PM  

  • Hear, hear! Please add my name to that petition.

    Perhaps your definition of spiritual bankruptcy would clarify the issue here. One doesn't have to be a "good Christian" to be "spiritual".

    I think our society has replaced morality with political correctness. It seems to me that many people are amoral ("outside the sphere to which moral judgments apply; lacking moral sensibility" -- Webster), or lacking in principles against which to judge their opinions and actions. Often arguments don't seem to be held up against morals or conscience, but are justified by expedience.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:22 PM  

  • With my protest, I do not join the majority. I could not join the majority who want big government as bad as President Bush does, just big liberal government. My protest is my own, the protest of a conservative libertarian who believes that President Bush has sold out to big, tyrannical government and therefore has rejected values held traditionally by Republicans and conservatives.

    Don't think because I'm not going to vote for any Republicans, that I am automatically going to vote for Democrats.

    Pataki has always been a donkey in an elephant's skin. Upstate doesn't like him because he is no different than his liberal Democrat predecessor.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:40 AM  

  • Numberwise, I do think that moral and ethical bankruptcy might serve as substitutes for spiritual bankruptcy. Thanks for your comments.

    Thanks to everyone for their comments, whether you agree with me or not.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:43 AM  

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