I live in Maine. We are usually thought of as the touristy, "cute" sort of place to vacation. Yes, we've had our share of time in the political limelight - George Mitchell, Margaret Chase Smith, William Cohen, the family that lives in Kennebunkport for a few weeks out of the year...
We have a reputation of being Vacation Land - it was even on our license plates a few years ago. But we are also very aware politically, and it shows in our kids. Over the past five years, we have voted and watched as our voices amounted to nothing. Evidently our kids have watched, and even though I never thought they were paying attention (after all, they are teens and are busy with their lives, which are more entertaining than all the political stuff that "adults" pay attention to), I was wrong.
The following letter was written, and sent to Senator Olympia Snowe, by a sophomore in a local high school here in the Bangor area. I think his political science teacher would be proud of him. If the young poeple are paying attention and willing to take the time to write to their representatives in Washington, maybe there is hope for the future. I hear a lot of voices out there in the blogosphere that bewail the lack of the "youth" voices. I was one of those - until today...
January 26, 2006
Dear Senator Olympia Snowe,
I am a sophomore at John Bapst Memorial High School and I apologize in advance if you feel that this letter is forcing my beliefs on to you. I am more politically aware than the average student at my school, but I am not completely absorbed in politics. I am up to date on the events that take place in our nation's capital and a lot of the things I have seen going on in politics today have started to worry me. Where is our country heading?
The reason I am writing to you is because of the senators deciding whether or not to support Samuel Alito as a Supreme Court justice. This could be a major turning point in our nation's government. I do not know everything about it, but it seems to me that our President is just keeping his back covered so if any more things like the domestic spying comes up he will get all the support to trample on the rights of U.S. citizens set down by the "piece of paper" that is our nation's Constitution. We need something to happen to prevent this.
I have stood by and watched as our president sent in our troops to Iraq on the basis of false information. I have watched as the president slowly reacted to hurricane Katrina. I have watched as our rights as U. S. citizens have slowly been degraded. We can't just let this happen. Our government is being used improperly for the president's and his friend's personal agendas.
We are having other's beliefs forced down our throats. If they are able to do this we are no longer a free country but a tyrannical theocracy that our president is forming. It is great that our president has firm beliefs, but there isn't just one religion, there are many and we can believe in any thing we want. We can't force others to go along with our own beliefs, it is morally wrong to do that. We were hearing people talking about moral values, how can George W. Bush talk about moral values when he is pushing his beliefs on to others? It doesn't make sense.
It is the politicians that use their power for personal gain that give all politicians a bad name. We have some serious problems in our government if people with power can get away with so much stuff, our future isn't going to be very good. The Constitution isn't just a piece of paper. That piece of paper represents all the freedom and liberty of what our country is supposed to be. If the laws that protect the rights of U.S. citizen's aren't upheld than what sets us apart from any dictatorship? Those laws are there for a reason; they were set to keep one person from holding complete power and to give that power to the common man.
It is your responsibility as a representative of the people of the United States, and as a U.S. citizen yourself, to keep our form of government from being overturned. You have to keep the deck from being stacked in one man's favor and not support Samuel Alito. He has shown a lot of support for the president and what is to keep him from ruling in favor of the president on the critical issues being debated right now, and throwing the rights of everyone in this country down the drain? I apologize again for ranting, but please do not support Samuel Alito, for the sake of my future and the future of the entire country. Thank you for reading this letter and I hope you will consider my opinion.
So maybe the future isn't as bleak as I had thought? I have hope again!