A PUBLIC RESPONSE TO A PRIVATE E-MAIL

I will not post your name for the following reasons:1). you sent a private communication to me and I will not violate your privacy, and 2). it probably isn't your real name, anyway, just a pseudonym.

Take note: I will no longer debate (read that "argue") with you via email. Nor will I respond to your emails again on this blog, although I will continue to respond to my other email correspondents. If you want to voice your opinions and vent your angry objections, do so in the Comments section of this blog so that all visitors may offer their opinions or rebuttals. Debate on different views is the democratic way.

But be warned. Granny and I are the administrators of this blog and we have the option to delete your comments if you are uncivil or obscene.We welcome civilized debates but we will not tolerate nastiness.

I will make a statement of fact. I am a very loyal American. I love my country and am patriotic to the core of my being. I grew up in the era of "Mom, the Flag, and Apple Pie", although you are no doubt too young to know what that means. As a stranger in a strange land I have stood on the fantail of an American warship anchored in a foreign port and wept unashamedly in an excess of emotion, of patriotic fervor, love and pride in my country and our flag fluttering in the night breeze - our flag, and all it symbolizes and stands for - while listening to the band and the sailors singing "God Bless America". And every word of that song striking deep into my heart. "...my Home, sweet home" is never so meaningful as when you are isolated in an alien land; then you realize just how much your homeland means to you.

I am not advocating Communism nor am I a Communist because I say that the working class helps create the wealth for the rich and deserve a decent wage. I did not say that the rich had to distribute their wealth in equal shares to the workers, but I stand by my statement that they deserve to be paid a decent wage. If there were no workers, how would the wealth be created?

I am not unpatriotic nor am I a traitor to my country because I criticize our President, his administration and policies. It is not treason to disagree and disapprove of the actions and power grabs, the violation of our laws and Constitution, the added violation of citizens' Civil Rights, and the immoral acts of torture of enemies.

We are a nation of laws and there are laws in place that allow authorities to seek out enemies of the State quite secretly, as secrecy is often essential in such cases. It is illegal, even for a President, to flout those laws. Torture is inhumane and there is no reason or excuse to engage in it.

We have the right of free speech and thought. We have the right of dissent. It is not illegal nor traitorous to speak our dissent and disapproval, as long as we do not advocate nor practise violence, nor advocate overthrow of the government. If citizens call for impeachment of a President, that is not attempting to overthrow the government. If that were so, everyone who called for impeachment of Presidents Nixon and Clinton would stand guilty.

It appears to me that you need to do a bit of studying on the founding of this country and its government, its laws of checks and balances for the members of that government, the Constitution and what it means, the Bill of Rights, and maybe just a little on morality and human decency. My French is terribly rusty but I can quote near enough to understand. A French king had the arrogance to say, "l'etat est moi"; I am the State. He may have gotten away with it, but I'll tell you most sincerely, our Presidents are NOT the State just because they are head of the State for a few years each.

The State is our nation and my love, loyalty, and patriotism is to the nation, not the man who leads it. I respect the office of the President but I don't have to respect the man who puts his feet under the desk in the Oval Office. I might say, "my country, right or wrong" but it appears that your attitude is "my President, right or wrong". Your loyalty needs be for your nation, not any one man.

I am an old woman, a great-grandmother many times over, but to this day if it became necessary I would take up arms to defend my country and willingly die for it. This country is the future of those great-grandchildren, and Granny's, and all the other children of this land and it is the duty and responsibility of this generation to fight for their future.

And until or unless it becomes necessary to take up arms, Granny and I will fight for it with words and hope that it is true that "the pen is mightier than the sword." And fie on you too, right along with Pat Robertson.