Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Dear Ms. Obama.

  Dear Ms. Obama,

As an American and a voter who supported Barrack Obama this past election I feel I have the right to speak on something that happened the other day. First I have to tell you that I am a middle aged white southern male and lean just a little to the left on social issues. I think everybody has the spark of the creator and therefore we as a society have a moral obligation to feed the hungry and clothe the poor and heal the sick. I feel with all my heart that how we treat others is not only the "Golden Rule" but the only real and absolute mark of where we stand before the great I Am. I honestly feel that two people who are adults and pledge their loyalty and intent and love to each other have the absolute right to join in a union, marriage or partnership. If the quickie Las Vegas weddings and the preachers with three ex wives and politicians that leave their mate to die haven't destroyed "godly unions" then I don't see how Bob and Tom have a snowballs chance of destroying it. :-) 

 I also have to tell you that I heard you're former preacher say that Hillary didn't know what it was like to be called the "N" word. Except he didn't say "N" but I've got to tell you. I do know a little of how that feels. Ya see I was born with a cleft lip and pallet and I have been called enough names and been left out of enough "reindeer games" in my youth to have a good idea of how that feels. So, I'm talking  to you as a voter, a man and a fellow traveler in the realm of the "outsider" at least to an extent. For some reason as I got older I felt less and feel less an outsider. I think it's called growing up.

Now I admit that Barrack has done some things I don't feel comfortable with. I'm not sure of just what happened at our embassy and I'm not completely comfortable with the answers from the I.R.S. But, then again I wasn't comfortable with Bush and the Saudis and letting the Bin Laden family fly home after Americans were murdered by their backers. I wasn't comfortable with Reagan and the South American slaughters that went on either. So, I understand how crap happens and sometimes presidents do things out of a misguided sense of honor and sometime just out of greed and politics. Humans!

But, you did something the other day that really troubles me. You silenced a protester. Now, on one hand I felt a certain sense of "You go girl" at the spunk you showed. But then I really started to think about it. One of the greatest freedoms we have as Americans is the right to "Speak to power" without being intimidated or shushed up by the authorities. It's what separates us from regimes like the Soviet Union or China or the monarchy of the past.

One of the things that make me so proud of being an American is the right to speak and assemble and protest without being afraid of the police or the military showing up at my door. Did you see the recent pictures of North Korea? A horrible man finally had to go and meet his maker. Some of those folks must have been thinking "good riddance to bad rubbish." But, they couldn't say that. The military was looking and the camera panned them and they dare not look up with a dry eye at the camera. They had to mock rend their clothing and cry tears and wail. Why? Because if they didn't they would be marked and dealt with.

One of the reasons I respect the flag of the United States and still in all the cynicism of the age feel a little shiver up my spine at the raising of the colors is the freedom it brings. The fact that I have the right to spit on it just makes me love it all the more. That's freedom.

So, that's why I am so taken aback by you and the "in your face" tactic you used with the protester. You are one of the most powerful and influential folks on the earth right now. That should make you proud and yet should also make you tremble at the awesome meaning and responsibility that comes with it.

Anyway, that's it for now. God bless and take care.

Sincerely,

Steve.