To the Editor:
In response to Marsha Shearer’s Opinion piece about meeting the challenge of keeping our republic:
Quoting exactly from Marsha’s eloquent letter that followed an opening with a rather nasty-worded opinion based on her and the liberal opposition’s viewpoint….perhaps resulting from being either totally unaware unread, or in complete disbelief of other more balanced or conservative news feeds, on-line and print media written by respected and learned political investigative journalists of the either the Conservative or Independent Electorate who support President Trump and his agenda….I commend Marsha and those liberals yet hopefully wishing to be loyal to our same Constitution, Declaration of Independence AND the Bill of Rights, to re-read her words here:
“But we are still in the woods fighting to gain back who we were and defeat who we’ve become. We have a long way to go. And we will not get there without a national acknowledgment of our failure as a society and a national rededication to the values espoused in our founding documents. If we are to become again the United States of America, all of us need to consider the concept of Truth and Reconciliation. We need to examine our actions vis-à-vis our Constitution. We need to demand truth—verifiable truth. Without truth there can be no trust. We need to reconcile our differences, valuing those that allow for individual differences but rejecting that rely on prejudice, fear and hatred of the other, and again respect above all else, the worth and dignity of all of us.
That would be a wonderful way to begin a new year, full of hope and promise, and one that rededicates us to the values expressed in (the) Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We really don’t have a choice if we are to survive.
When asked what kind of government the founders had crafted, Benjamin Franklin gave all of us the ultimate assignment when he replied, ‘A republic if you can keep it.’
Can we? To be determined…”
I totally concur with this quote and applaud all who approach a détente from both the liberal and conservative mindsets and with those moderates in-between to advocate and support with words and deeds this approach Marsha recommends.
It’s interesting that when activists from the liberal side of the political equation either are, or assume they are, on the winning side that they then speak of reconciliation, remind us of our American history, and hug the flag extolling the documents from our Founding Fathers.
When the liberals are on the losing side, they protest election results, question the legality of winning candidates, and seek to expose as dishonest the proponents (media and political operatives) on the opposing side. Sound familiar to the 2016 elections and all that has followed the victors in the last four years? Are conservatives not afforded the same equal right to pursue justice and truth?
Yet the liberal efforts following up on the 2016 election have not been enough to satisfy their pursuit: They censor and eviscerate our history based on documents from those Americans and immigrants who lived that history and put “America first”. They also censor documented world history. Then re-write our American history books and curriculums where they inject subjects to invade young minds to distrust prerogatives of privacy and parental decisions for our younger generations to read, trust, and matriculate within, expecting the teachings to be unadulterated truth. It is not a surprise they are mis-led with this “educational” foundation and then are further misled and indoctrinated by professors who extol the writings and choices of failed political “leaders” and encourage rage and revolution on campuses and communities.
Our young people are being led down the path of those past leaders with selfish, conquering minds who caused the downfall of their nations, the slaughter of literally hundreds of millions of their populations and suffered those who sacrificed at home and on the battlefront who strived to save lives and to restore freedom of those oppressed but put “America first” to protect our own freedoms from being threatened and that of our allies. The “greatest generation” we all admire chose to line up and literally fight, and to work on the home front to support the war efforts and stand together as they all put “America first”.
Please examine more closely the current failing economies, destroyed cultures, and starving innocent populations with Marxist and Communist governments. Please do not ignore their elite totalitarian administrations and corrupt business contractors sucking the life out of the masses who were hoodwinked to hope for a “new normal” promised by “Socialist” activists they joined with and are now wiser as they suffer in their homeland or flee to safer, more free existences in other nations such as our American homeland of these United States. Listen to those who still survive from tyrannical one-party nations where we’ve fought wars that have become Americans. Listen to those ex-patriates of especially Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia. They have lived under regimes who either unknowingly or knowingly who morphed from Socialists to Marxists and Communists. Listen to those from Iran, China, and North Korea.
Is it any wonder that the Conservative deplorables honor and seek to preserve the original “American experiment” that has been our unique heritage and all those symbols that remind us of ALL of our past– so we learn from both mistakes and hard-won successes in order to go forward that much the wiser?
I challenge liberals to clearly see the physical, mental, and emotional destruction wrought in the cities and states where the rule of law is no longer upheld and compare it to these places even less than a year ago. Are they invisible? Where there is government support of the destroyers who want our country to no longer exist as the founders intended, so they can establish a country ruled by the likes of those who follow in the footsteps of political leaders of failed governments and nations still suffering and/or wishing to overcome us as a free republic with a capitalist economy and common religious values to sustain its foundation. Do these troubled cities and states resemble our American republic?
Lastly but most importantly, please examine those past failed and current failing nations who oppress freedom of religion and in particular Judeo-Christian values on which our founding fathers based our founding documents for government and laws going forward to this day. Listen to the preponderance of visitors to our country, and to those who become a part of our great melting pot of almost innumerable ethnicities, gladly embracing our way of life: They marvel at all that we enjoy here and feel blessed to live within the laws of our republic. Who in all honesty would wish to scorn, mock, or remove the existence of more conservative elements, activists, and leaders in our society who also wish harmony, honesty, truth, and mutual respect to re-constitute our UNITED States?
We must stand together or perish, going the way of purveyors of lawlessness who have taken down once thriving nations—many who now depend on us taxpayers and the generosity of our charitable institutions to mitigate their suffering. Is there no limit to our enterprises being glutted until we succumb to becoming a third or even second world nation?
The globalist leaders who want a one-world government merely wish to overcome and destroy America as we have known it, violating our sovereign rights as a free nation. Conservatives who wish to re-gain the hard-won fruits of the efforts of our forefathers and ourselves would be foolish not to push back with putting “America first”. Competing nations put their national interests first and we must deal with equal vigor to maintain respect and demand fairness in the marketplace and in the political arenas of the world.
It all starts with you and me in our bubble to find common ground. I truly believe we all want a peaceful co-existence with more respectful exchange of ideas. When given the chance to really listen to each other, give each other some benefit of more trustful doubt, with goals of some compromise as a beginning when applied to everyday practical decisions of thought, word, and deed– we WILL succeed and thrive with trust in God for a merciful outcome to “save the souls of our nation” to “re-build better”.
See, I do listen, just with my conservative view and understanding of those same phrases. What about you? We are all allowed choices and we can choose to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and elevate that which is in-between. If we all still believe Ben Franklin’s challenge as worthy – to keep our republic, let’s use our creativity within whatever circles we are part of, to reach out and figure out more perfect solutions for a more perfect union.
“To be determined…” Yes, let’s be determined.
Suzanne Zimmerman
Village of Charlotte