To commemorate the national holiday, I wrote the current administration. I was polite, but I aired my greatest grievance.
February 18, 2008
President George Walker Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Bush,
I am writing this President’s Day not for my own sake, but for the sake of this nation and its heirs. While we are indeed a proud nation which has contributed many technologies, art, and a great political document to the world, we have our flaws. The most glaring of which is our foreign policy.
For a nation claiming to be the leader of the free world, we have covertly and overtly operated in sovereign nation after sovereign nation, ousting rightful leaders and promoting those that advance our interests. Mr. President, we are not omniscient beings endowed by God some right to install leaders in other people’s countries to benefit Americans. If we are eliminating the democratically elected leaders of nations, then we are something of hypocrites. The world does not smile on hypocrites. As a nation blessed with great wealth, we are morally obligated to help those suffering or under siege. We should never bring suffering or siege upon others.
I wonder if you are familiar with the Global Peace Index, a ranking of countries based on peace promotion and endorsed by prominent peace advocates including former President Jimmy Carter and the Dalai Lama. As of 2007, United States ranks at 96 on the Peace Index. Please note that many Muslim and Middle Eastern nations, namely Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt, Syria, Indonesia, and Yemen, are ahead of us on the Peace Index. Rankings are based on relations with other nations, number of conflicts they engage, human rights protection, military expenditures, arms distribution, and the fraction of citizenry imprisoned.
Mr. Bush, we are destabilizing the world and making it a much more dangerous and unpredictable place. I ask that you please reflect on choices you have made as president, and what you can do in the remaining months of your presidency to promote world peace. I would recommend reading Greg Mortensen’s Three Cups of Tea, in which equality, charity, and education of Afghan school children are shown to be the paths towards promoting peace and stability.
D----- -------
A Patriotic and Concerned American Citizen