I've noticed over reading letters to the editor that there are many stands on what is right and what is wrong with this issue or that issue. Much of these very opinionated letters all fall back on two things. The first is religion and the second is our constitution. The letters coupled with the fact the Mid-Ohio Valley is where I grew up I know the people put on the face that they are Christians and patriots and quite frankly, I'm not so sure most people would fall into the latter group.
My reasoning for the statement is pretty simple. The overall tone for not just the MOV but our country as a whole is "I am going to vote for this candidate for this office because we have the same morals and/or faith." Now if this weren't true during the last presidential election there would not have so much talk of our presidents faith on every news channel, or so many people making exclamations about his middle name being Hussein. That makes it easy to see that people voting on religious and moral beliefs are in fact not patriots and want what's best for our country. If they did, they would be able to read the second line of this document which is supposed to be the corner stone of our government and see it says all are guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson was a staunch supporter of the separation of church and state. Most notably from his letter to the Danbury Baptists saying, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." By electing officials who are out spoken on and proclaim how they will fight for these beliefs in congress is completely disregarding the line in the first amendment that provides, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." By putting officials in place that act on religious beliefs of the majority, which in this case is Christian, is like a back door way of getting around this and only exploiting our system and constitution which is the most unpatriotic thing a person could do, especially when it effects the lives of so many other Americans.
A true patriot would be ready to defend our constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Everybody over the age of 18 has this ability. It isn't just left to the 0.45 percent serving in our military. You can do it by voting. So when the election comes, whoever you vote for, leave your faith out of it. Vote for whoever could bring jobs, economic stability, strengthen our failing and dismal school systems, repair our crumbling infrastructure and bring strong foreign policy and foreign relations. These are just few of our many actual issues as a country, not the theological and moral issues. We need to fix this problem and the first step in fixing anything is admitting that there is a problem. Realize the United States isn't the greatest country in the world anymore, and this glue of flag waiving and chest beating will only hold us together for a while longer before it breaks.
Craig Meeks
Norwich, Conn.
