Why I'm lucky to have a Republican for a Congressional Representative

Blue State/Red State.

I live in a predominantly "Blue" state. Blue - the color of peace, of tranquil oceans and storm-free skies. Blue, a color that evokes calm, coolness, quiet sensibility to me.

As opposed to a "red" state - Blood, War, Mars, Hate, Embarassment, Heat, Hell, Conflict.


But back to the topic...

I live in a predominantly blue state. Vote early, vote often! However, I live in the most "red" county of the entire state - DuPage. "Where the elite meet to meet and greet in lovely downtown Naperville and Hinsdale - far from those horrible... negroes and homosexual deviants!!" It's also home to thousands like myself who think that DuPage is the most hypocrite-ridden Christian hellhole imagineable. But wtf - it's home.

It's also got a Republican for our representative - Henry Hyde. Been in office since the beginning of time, I believe. And I've always cringed at the thought of more Republican BS coming from someone supposed to represent ME... but then, I wrote him a letter regarding the Dubai Ports debacle - and he actually had an intern answer me.

And that got me to thinking this weekend. I'm actually blessed in a way with this, because having one of the "enemy" at my beck and call (since he needs to get re-elected, dontcha know?) - gives me an advantage. It gives me the opportunity to address the things that are of major concern to me right now, and to do so directly to the Enemy. Imagine if every right-thinking person in our district wrote to Rep. Hyde and told him what we thought about ... things.

So I did. I herein offer my humble offering to you - and strongly urge that if you feel the same, that you write your own "I love America, please save it from the Terrorist Bush" letter and send it to YOUR Republican representative.

Dear Representative Hyde:

It has come to my attention that the House of Representatives is
considering legislation related to the so-called "War on Terror". There
are several points that concern me.

I believe that it is an exceptionally bad move to tinker with the Geneva
Convention agreements. During times of war, it is the only thing that
stands between our soldiers and improper treatment by the enemy. I have a
very dear friend who spent quite a bit of time at the "Hanoi Hilton"
during the conflict in Viet Nam. To this day he cannot speak of the
atrocities that occurred there without becoming emotionally distraught and
unable to continue. Certainly the president cannot be so blind as to
assume that if we, the country that has always prided itself on taking the
moral high ground, begin the long slide into uncivilized behavior with
"Unconventional forms of interrogation", our enemies will not follow suit.
Their lack of any moral grounding would likely lead them to perform worse
and more uncivilized atrocities, perhaps even beginning a snowball effect.

I am also very concerned that the civil rights that were granted to the
people of the United States by the Founding Fathers - the first 10
amendments to the Constitution of the United States - are being thrust
aside. The right of the people to be secure ... from unreasonable search
and seizure, has always meant a right to privacy, a right to hold what is
one's own and not have the government involved in our day-to-day minutia
of living. Wiretapping without a warrant is illegal, and should remain
so. Richard Nixon showed that it is not possible for we the people of the
United States to trust the occupant of the office of the President to
behave honorably. I fear this is the case at this time as well. Mr. Bush
does not appear to have any respect for, nor any understanding of the
Constitution of the United States - a document he twice swore with his
hand on a Bible to "Uphold and Defend, against all enemies, foreign and
domestic."

The so-called "Patriot Act" should never have been approved. It should be
repealed. The fact that Mr. Bush feels it is justifiable to hold
prisoners indefinately without benefit of due process is against the very
foundations on which our country was built - the Bill of Rights of the
Constitution of the United States. The fact that Mr. Bush would have
these prisoners tried and convicted without the opportunity to confront
their accusers, nor the ability to examine the evidence against them is
also a crime against the Constitution. That Mr. Bush wishes to spy upon
Americans with wiretaps without gaining the warrants that would make them
legal (is it THAT hard to walk across a couple of streets to get to the
court building 72 hours AFTER you start tapping?) is of paramount concern
to me as a citizen. If Mr. Bush has no problem with denying rights to
others, how can I trust him to have the honor and morals not to deny those
same rights to American citizens?

When I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, I was taught that the
horrors of the USSR were myriad, but foremost among them was that ordinary
citizens were being spied upon by their government - that there was fear
of the government - that their government imprisoned people without
charges and held them incommmunicado - that their government silenced
dissenters (in much the same way as the "Swiftboating" of our brave
Veterans is being accomplished, or Mr. Bush's favorite "If you aren't with
us, you are against us" quote) - that the Soviets had secret prisons where
they tortured people. Representative Hyde - these same things are coming
out of Washington D.C. now - not Moscow.

The United States of America should never, ever, resort to torture. It is
well documented that torture never produces accurate results, that at some
point even the strongest individual will begin to say anything at all that
they believe will please the torturer - just to make the torture stop.

Mr. Hyde, I beg you - please be a voice of reason in Washington. Please
support Mr. Powell, Senator McCain and others who are working to return
America to it's pre-November 2000 beauty and honor.

Sincerely,

[my real name]
[my real address]