Dear Editor:
I pay attention to politics and have been following the presidential campaigns closely since the primaries. I have to pay attention because I believe there is a tremendous amount at stake in this election. I'm a grown man, 35 years old with a beautiful wife, a brilliant 2 year old daughter, and a second child on the way. I have a great job working for a strong technology corporation that was founded on the extremely hard work of hundreds of exceptional people. I recently moved back to my ancestral home of New Mexico, where my family has lived for hundreds of years--and where my mother and father live today--so that my daughter could understand and appreciate the beauty and strength of her roots.
All of this enabled because of the hard work of generations of Americans who always saw themselves first and foremost as Americans, the people who built this country on the principles of family, hard work and the belief that all people are created equal. It's true that man-by-man, no American has been perfect. But taken in total, in our heart of hearts, we understand our nation as a being that loves itself.
Regrettably, months ago I realized that our country is now badly on the wrong course. We are deeply engaged in a terrible war that has seen us kill thousands of civilians, transform a generation of Iraqi boys into an army of suicide bombers, and saddest of all, torture prisoners in a sick echo of the dictator we claimed to be there to depose. After a decade of prosperity, the U.S. government has gone into the largest deficit in the history of the country, with tax breaks favoring the wealthy in a time of war. I have recently read that it's no longer safe to eat the fish I catch from the streams and rivers of New Mexico because the levels of mercury and other poisons make them unsafe. This saddens me.
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Regardless of their motivation, the current administration is responsible for the current state of the nation. Their policies and decisions have resulted in the state of the country, with 1.4 million more people living in poverty this year, gasoline selling for over $2.00 per gallon, and countries that have allied with us for a generation now refusing to support our policies. This is not the America I think of with a fondness in my heart.
Of course, the current administration likes to say that "9/11 changed everything." But if that's true, isn't it also true that the "terrorists won"?
The fact is, the solemn face of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque fade from blue to purple to bright orange to black every evening, just like they did on September 10, 2001 and on any random day in September, 1701, when my family first settled in this small part of the wide American continent. And the smell of the ocean in Santa Monica and the fish market in Seattle and how people in Phoenix don't mind the heat, so long as it's dry. Our roots run deeper than 9/11 and I think we've forgotten those roots, those parts buried under ground that we all have in common. As a kid, I remember we were all proud of the U.S.A.
I fear that that America may become a thing of the past. The news today is filled with sad stories of catastrophe while our president tells us nothing is going wrong. I don't believe George Bush when he says that things are going all right. I don't believe that he is capable of leading this country out of our current state of shock, out of the unexpressed grief that paralyzes us because being furious was easier to take.
We were changed by 9/11, but 9/11 didn't "change everything". Americans have never been ones to be acted upon by history. We pride ourselves as the makers of history and it is incumbent upon us, as adults and parents of our children, to consider that the history we are making right now is not our finest hour. We need to stop destroying and start building again. The future of our country is bigger than 9/11 and our past runs far deeper than the fear we're being sold every day by our government.
I've never written a letter like this to an editor but I feel compelled to do so tonight after watching the debate between President Bush and Senator Kerry. I ask that you allow yourself to feel the weight of history and to understand that there is something out there bigger than the politics of what's going on. I ask that you find the courage to ask the really, really tough questions about what this administration is doing and why they are making the decision they are making. And please keep the scope of your journalistic objectivity grounded in the context of all the work that has been done to make this country as great as it is and measure the truth against that.
Least you forget, the stakes are incredibly high. Don't let anyone answer a question by changing the subject. Don't forget that you have a stake in this country just like me and my children. And don't believe them that 9/11 changed everything. George Bush changed everything. I believe John Kerry will be the first strong step toward making America once again the united, courageous nation that we all remember it to be.
Sincerely,
XYZ