I am writing in response to the Forum titled “Patriotism is not loyalty to one person” by Susan Chichetto, printed in these newspapers the week of April 23. Indeed. Perhaps one could also add “nor to one party.” That article is a classic example of projection, or placing your own negative traits or unwanted emotions onto others, usually without reason. Was it the Democrat party that told us that an 80-year-old man showing memory loss would make an ideal president? His vice president is a person so uniformed that she thought the Ukraine was a NATO nation. Who is really making the decisions? Did any Democrats suggest that Biden or Harris were unfit for office? Many prominent conservatives decried Trump’s running and did not vote for him.
Chichetto talks about loyalty to the Constitution and our laws. So please explain who it is that has allowed 5 million migrants into our country illegally since the new administration, despite immigration laws to the contrary? Where did those migrants go? What person in the Supreme Court illegally leaked the opinion on Roe v. Wade, after which justices were targeted and people illegally picketed outside their private homes (in violation of federal law Section 1507)? How can a sitting president erase $400 billion in student loans, when budgets are the responsibility of Congress?
“Erasing history of the 20th century that doesn’t fit their world view”? How about erasing all U.S. history that doesn’t fit the liberals’ world view? Like tearing down Civil War statues because it offends some people? If we are not reminded of our past mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them. Remember that the country that fought a four-year civil war, brother killing brother, over slavery and racism was the U.S. Please go read George Orwell’s “1984” and tell me that is not happening now, with the “cancelling” of opinions we don’t like, or creating safe spaces for college students to not hear opposing views, and the “1619 Project” attempting to rewrite U.S. history with a racial bias. Now even Harvard professors have formed a new Council on Academic Freedom devoted to free inquiry, intellectual diversity and civil discourse. If progressive policies are working so well, why are residents fleeing in numbers from blue states like California and Illinois and moving to red states like Texas, Florida and Arizona?
“Some want a dictatorship”? Who decided last September that the FBI should send dozens of fully armed agents to the home of pro-life Catholic Mark Houck and arrest him in front of his children? Who allowed the IRS in 2013 under Lois Lerner to target conservative organizations’ nonprofit status? Why did she not go to jail?
Our republic will only survive if we all stop throwing stones and recognize that there can be good ideas from both sides. “A house divided against itself will not stand,” said Lincoln, quoting the book of Matthew. Progressives could start by reading or viewing YouTube videos of Dr. Thomas Sowell, Dr. Ben Carson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Jason Wiley, Senator Tim Scott, retired Lt. Col. Allen West, and others (all Black conservatives), and you might see another perspective. Conservatives should start by reading “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky, published in 1971. It is the playbook utilized by many left-leaning people, and one of the main rules is to personally attack anyone on the other side. Myself, I remain an independent voter, beholden to no party. You might want to do the same.
John Facella is a resident of Raymond.
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