Letter To Senators and Representative

24 November 2010

Senator XXXXXXXXX,
I am grieved beyond belief or imagination that I feel compelled to write a letter like this to one whom I deeply respect and hold in high esteem.

It is obvious to even the most casual observer that there are only three things lacking in the current TSA airport security scheme. Those three things would be a proctologist, a gynecologist and, of course, any meaningful security since Homeland Security has decided to permit some known terrorists to pass TSA inspections unmolested. If security was a big issue with Homeland Security then I think our borders would be sealed and parts of our country would not have been publicly ceded to drug smugglers, human traffickers, foreign gangs and any aspiring terrorist with enough shoe leather to walk right in unchallenged. Ms. Napolitano says train and bus depots are next on her agenda. I assume after that will be gas stations, truck stops and welcome stations at the state borders. And what has Congress done? They have shamelessly cowered before an out of control bureaucracy slavishly grateful for the TSA decision not to subject certain “high government officials” to the egregious indignities forced upon the people who elected them. What piteous cowards you all are.

Has everyone in Congress gone mad? Are there none in that august body who has read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the Federalist Papers? This continued “in-your-face” usurpation of personal freedoms guaranteed in those documents bodes ill for this once free nation. You do know that America has been downgraded from “free” to “mostly free” don’t you? Continued kicking of even the gentlest dog will eventually get your leg bitten. If I am to believe the news, there is a multitude of gentle dogs at that point now and that number grows every time a citizen is needlessly stripped of dignity and publicly groped or digitally photographed nude for the crime of wanting to travel by air. This is not the America I grew up in and certainly not the America envisioned by the founding fathers of this nation. Is this really the best we can do?

If it is Mr. Obama’s intention to ignite a revolution in this country through excessive, and perhaps illegal, regulation, out of control bureaucracies, unaccountable czars and constitutionally questionable executive orders then I see a significant measure of success in his efforts. In polarizing and dividing a nation, his efforts are unparalleled in the entire history of this country. At least there was some reasonable rationale for the Civil War. Mr. Obama’s stated reason for his actions is that America shouldn’t be so big and powerful. Well, Senator, I like America big and powerful and I vehemently resent this individual, who has yet to prove his qualifications to hold office, taking it upon himself to weaken us militarily and economically so we can number ourselves among the failed nations of Europe and elsewhere and not be a threat to any despot or tyrant. What rips the heart out of me is that the very people elected to be a check and balance against such evils were, and many still are, willing accomplices. I hope that changes in January, but, until then, it is just a hope.

I hear the new crop of Republicans railing against these abuses and wringing their hands as to what to do about defunding the Obamacare travesty and other nationally debilitating programs. What a crock! If the new, as well as the old, Republicans were sincere and had any intestinal fortitude at all they would demand the president do three simple things; produce his long-form birth certificate, produce the passport he used to travel to Indonesia when travel there was forbidden American citizens and explain how he came by a social security number from a state he had never, at the date of issue, been in? An inappropriate response to any one of those three simple tasks would open wide an avenue to render the last two years null and void. Simple solutions are very often the best. Doing what is politically safe and expedient is not necessarily synonymous with doing what is morally right as the latter requires character and courage, attributes that seem in short supply.

In closing, Senator, I am 67 years old and I despise, in the strongest possible manner, the fact that, before I pass from this vale of tears, I may be forced to choose to honor my oath to the Constitution or cravenly submit to tyranny as has Congress which is bound by that same oath. Until recently, neither life nor blood has ever been held in greater esteem than honor and freedom by an American. I may be old, but I do not think I can live with the stain of submission to tyranny on my soul. I sincerely hope you can’t either.

Regretfully yours,

William Fortner