Help me edit my LTTE...

[TN al]

...please help me with fact checking too. :)

The right wing in this country hate America. They, despite what President Bush says about middle eastern terrorists, hate America for its freedoms. They do not believe in the America handed down to us by our founding fathers calling for a lack of a state religion. They do not believe in the America described in the original version of the pledge of allegiance “...with liberty and justice for all”. Make no mistake, they will respond to this letter asserting that all of the founding fathers were Christians and that they intended for this nation to be a Christian nation. They will quote the founding fathers and insist that their writings can indicate nothing less than an intention for a Christian nation but will ignore the most definitive writing of the time, the treaty with the Barbary pirates in Which President John Adams , one of the founding fathers, states that America was in no way founded as a Christian nation.
Instead the right wing insist on loving the America that they hear envisioned by the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell. An America in which the pentagon is struck by a nuclear weapon, espoused by Robertson, and an America in which we ourselves are responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center because of our way of life, the American way of life. This last accusation was made by Fallwell in the presence of Robertson who only nodded his head in agreement. The right wing love the America that not only falls in lock-step with Christianity but with the right kind of Christianity. The right wing moves from telling adherents of other religions that their god is better than your god to telling other Christians that their Jesus is better than your Jesus.
The right wing impeached a president for human failings that the record shows they, themselves were particularly vulnerable to. They described what they expected from their president as far as integrity and morality were concerned. They stated that their principles demanded this kind of president. During the GOP primaries in 2000 this candidate emerged and frankly, as a Gore supporter, scared the living daylights out of me because of my expectation that he could beat Gore. The right wing, however, dumped the candidate that they had so long described, John McCain, in favor of the lies of George W. Bush. The right showed that they had no principles, just an avaricious appetite for power.
The right wing hates democracy. If the clearly undemocratic power grab in 2000 were not enough to show that, consider the optional war of George W. Bush. The key words in my description of the Iraqi war is “optional.” Democracies do not choose to go to war as President Bush did. Totalitarian regimes, secure in their hold over their people, choose to make war. War is brought upon democracies and they fight them only reluctantly. President Bush chose to go to war.
Finally, the right wing hates dissent. They take to the airwaves and try to intimidate those who disagree with them. They harass the writers of letters when they are provided with their e-mails. They accuse protesters of treason. When confronted with specific accusations such as the Richard Clarke book or any of the number of others that are coming out now they tend not to offer any arguement over what they are accused of. Instead they attack the messenger accusing them of a lack of patriotism but not offering any proof to counterdict the charges that were made. It is patriotic to tell Americans what their government is doing. Only in Totalitarian states is it argued that to disagree with the leader is unpatriotic. The right wing cannot stand for an America in which free speech is tolerated because free speech leads to free thought which leads to the discovery of what the right wing really stands for.
For those who refuse to be counted among the right wing described herein think long and hard when you go to the voting booth in November. Understand who it is that installed Bush in the office of President of the United States of America. Understand that they are relying on your passive acquiescence to do it again. One can tell what kind of person you are by your actions and by who you choose to associate yourselves with. Don’t be a person I have described in this letter. Choose to be an American.

[fdr_hst_fan]

1. I can't verify

your historical facts, but by the Lord Harry, I LIKE your spirit! Hear, hear! If only more people could forget about who's going to win the Stanley Cup or the Belmont Stakes or the NBA championship or who the new American Idol is for a minute and focus on what our Founding Fathers handed us and we're so cheerfully throwing away, the Bush Nazis wouldn't stand a chance!

[mongo]

2. Founding fathers

Really great letter. Thanks for taking the time to write it!

Here's some quotes to support the fact that the founding fathers did not want this to be a "Christian nation"

"Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
James Madison, "A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785.


"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

"History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."
Thomas Jefferson to Baron von Humboldt, 1813.

"Is it true that George Washington said that the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion?"
No. The quotation often given is in fact from Article XI of the Treaty of Tripoli (8 Stat 154, Treaty Series 358):
Article 11
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, -- as it has in itself no character or enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, -- and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

More founding father quotes here: http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/extra/founding-fathers.html

Keep fighting the good fight!

[myopic4141]

3. Comments

Shows lots of anger which is good; however, needs restructuring to improve clarity and flow.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

4. A little long, no?

I guess it depends on where you're sending it. The newspaper my parents subscribe to likes to print 20-word letters, and thats about it.

[myopic4141]

5. Now that would be a challenge.

To get all that anger into 20 words.

[TN al]

6. 754 words...

...The Tennessean states preference will be given to letters of 300 words or less. They also have a section where they let locals write op/ed pieces. I don't know how they choose who will write that. I have thought that maybe they would print it there. If they did want it there I imagine I would have to extend it by perhaps twice as long. I think I could do that without much difficulty. Believe it or not I cut it down from what could have been twice as long, I'm sure.

[struggle4progress]

7. Better to cut it down to 300 yourself.

If they edit it, the meaning may change.

[trof]

8. paragraphs paragraphs paragraphs

Great letter, but large unbroken blocks of type are daunting to the reader.
Double space between paragraphs.