My letter to the editor that they have chosen NOT to print

Three weeks ago, I sent an editorial to a local morning newspaper for them to print. The normal process has been that a representative from the newspaper calls back after receiving the letter is to confirm the authenticity of the letter and gain approval for printing. No problem. I'm still waiting to hear from them! So I The represented need to be equally - or more so – informed as those that represent us. will instead print that letter here, hoping that the world (internet access is powerful) will read and respond to my ideas.


A magician depends on the ability to distract the attention of the audience in order to give the illusion of magic. Keep them looking in one direction while the real action is happening somewhere else.

The new administration will use that same tactic in making decisions regarding national issues. While the current state of the national economy hurts many individuals and families, it is a diversionary benefit for the Obama administration to implement its very liberal social agenda. The media is focused on the efforts of the new president to restart the economy. The administrative staff is labeled as moderate – middle of the road – willing to compromise with both conservatives and liberals to accomplish certain goals. The foreign policy team is also described as moderate, an attempt to disguise several specific goals that many Americans would be opposed to.

According to the Obama transition website (http://otrans.3cdn.net/3b21d35e246c18a427_d7m6bw2o1.pdf), he plans to resume sending money internationally to provide for abortions, reinstate abortion services on military bases, and eliminate all funding to abstinence programs in the schools. He is being encouraged to enact the Freedom of Choice Act – FOCA – negating state laws that regulate abortion on demand. The bold actions to expand abortion services during an Obama administration depend on the public’s misdirected attention.

He is planning to lift President Bush’s ban on federal research using embryonic stem cells. This ban only prevented government research, not private research. The use of embryonic stem cells has already been proven to have no medical value. The use of adult stem cells has proven to be a gold mine to address medical issues. Significantly, research using embryonic stem cells requires the destruction of the embryo – the death of a potential life as defined by pro-life supporters. Research using adult stem cells does not require any embryo destruction.
These extreme proposals reveal the general attitude to life itself. If an embryo is not life, then there is no wrong in destroying it. This lack of respect for life can potentially grow and permeate other areas of life, such as assisted suicide services. A rationed national government run health care system that evaluates a life saving surgery in terms of value to the patient and the government. Two people are in need of a liver transplant. One is 75 years old, the other person is 28. The 28-year-old has better future earnings potential (pays taxes). The 75-year- old is a tax liability - Social Security and Medicare benefits taken from the system, not added to it. Eliminate the fringes of life and then move towards the center.

Our form of government – republic – requires diligent oversight of elected officials at all levels –local, state, federal - by the represented. We cannot simply trust them to do the right thing. We must continually hold them accountable for their actions – how they spend our money. The represented need to be equally - or more so – informed as those that represent us.