Sunday, April 21, 2013

Dear Mr. President,

Following up on my letter of April 11, I will be brief.

It seems that many folks are into ringing the Nuclear Option bell. You can be sure that those bell ringers are interested in equality and liberty for all.

I  have noted, however, that some of our semi-liberal brothers and sisters are not up for the N.O. They are actually afraid that the retrogressive mentalities in the Congress will stick a bunch of regressive amendments on to a bill.

Surly you realize that these folks would not be retrogressors if they did not do this. It's part of the field. It's what we have to deal with in a democracy. It's freedom of speech.

The need to have 60 votes to pass a bill, however, is a clear blockage of free speech. If we want free speech, it has to be free for everyone, even our regressive brothers and sisters. Eliminating these bed rock freedoms from our democratic way of life is the agenda of retrogression. Their Ann Rand fixations would return, or regress us to the 15th Century where only one person, the king had these rights.

I have lived and observed long enough to be fairly certain that Life, in fact, does imitate Art. So in the best Shakespearean traditions, I assume you are playing a deep game that will lure the repressors into some sort of cul-de-sac where liberty and justice for all will carry the day. I cannot complain about that, and I am willing to hold that as a possibility. I actually get that "from the beginning they struggled. From the beginning we conquered." It is historically documentable.

I know all about standing steady in the light. Still, what information we are able to access, makes  us a bit nervous. We understand that the so called "daily briefings", press releases, and Sunday blather shows, are a matter of moving rooks and bishops around.

A little subtle foreshadowing would be helpful. Rather than waiting 50 years or so for the events to be fed back to us in a drama, it would be good to have a Greek Chorus that comes forward in-between scenes ,so to speak, to give us the low down now and then.

An occasional offhand comment concerning your heart focus on the indestructibility of our government as a government of, for, and by the people would be encouraging, as well as enlightening to the "insiders".

I'm just saying.

lots of love

-tom