December 16, 2013

Dear Congresswomen and Congressmen:

STAND FOR LIBERTY, REJECT OBAMA’S TROJAN HORSE OF TYRANNY, SAVE AMERICA OR MAKE ROOM FOR SOMEBODY THAT HAS THE COURAGE TO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM

On behalf of my fellow American citizens who strongly believe in the sacred values expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I write to you with the utmost urgency. The very survival of our great republic is at stake. America is under attack and is in far greater peril than commonly understood. At this very moment we are losing our most basic freedoms and you have the responsibility for either allowing this tragedy to continue to happen or for preventing it.  You have the power, the tools and the opportunity to reverse the slide to tyranny and be forever recognized in American history as the Congress that stood up for truth and liberty and saved our nation.

Some of you are actively supporting and participating in the misguided leadership that is currently undermining America’s founding principles and fundamental values. Many of you are spectators, either oblivious to the ongoing destruction or lacking the courage to step forward to defend individual liberty. A few of you understand the urgency of the problem and are standing tall and demanding truth and accountability. But all of you are responsible for the tragedy taking place.   You are the last hope for freedom, not just for America but for the entire world and we pray that you have the wisdom, the integrity and the courage to stand up for individual liberty in this most dangerous time.

An historic stealth attack on America’s governing principles.

For the first time in the history of our great republic a totally partisan Congress and a totally partisan President passed a law, which has major impact on every American, which is contrary to the spirit and the letter of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is far more significant than how we fund and deliver health care services. Obamacare is a bold, ill-conceived and illegitimate extension of government power over the individual. It is the Trojan Horse of tyranny for modern America. It is a diabolical gift from the self-proclaimed transformer of American values, Barak Obama. And like the Trojan Horse that led to the destruction of Troy, it is about to deal a fatal blow to the most sacred principles of limited government articulated in America’s founding documents.

Make no mistake about it. The main issue is not about health care or the deficit or the budget. It is about your absolute top priority of protecting our freedoms and adherence by the government to the founding documents.

James Madison, in his great wisdom, recognized that there would be times when America took the wrong path and would be fooled by poor leadership or misrepresentations.  He also foresaw the important role of Congress would play in providing leadership, wisdom, and reconsideration when such events took place.

“As the cool and deliberate sense of the community ought, in all governments, and actually will, in all free governments, ultimately prevail over the views of its rulers; so there are particular moments in public affairs when the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or misled by the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may call for measures which they themselves will afterwards be the most ready to lament and condemn. In these critical moments, how salutary will be the interference of some temperate and respectable body of citizens, in order to check the misguided career, and to suspend the blow meditated by the people against themselves, until reason, justice, and truth can regain their authority over the public mind?” – James Madison Federalist Papers, No. 63, 1788

President Madison also made it very clear that the power of the purse was purposely given to Congress to be used as a weapon to protect the interests of the people against the misuse of power by the executive branch.

“This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.” – James Madison  Federalist Papers, No. 58, 1788

If Congress does not exercise this power of the purse as a weapon to preserve the liberty of “we the people” you are not worthy of your position of responsibility. You cannot afford to be intimidated by the President or by the press, or by lies or by threats. Do not let the enemies of freedom make you afraid to use the power of the purse to protect us from tyranny. You alone have the responsibility and the power to prevent the Nation from bankrupting itself. You have the responsibility to educate the public about the $90 trillion of unfunded liabilities in addition to the $17 trillion of national debt. If you stand up for honesty, financial responsibility and common sense today you will be honored for your courage forever.

A time for courage and action.

It is time for you, Congressmen and Congresswomen, to look in the mirror and face the ugly truth and its consequences. It is time for you to take a deep unfiltered breath of Washington’s air and fill your nostrils with the stench of tyranny. Listen to the lies of the White House, the NSA, the IRS, the State Department, and the Justice Department and hear the Nation’s fabric of integrity being torn to shreds. Open your eyes and watch the pointing fingers of endless failures only to see that no one is accountable for actions of gross negligence which threaten our freedoms and security. While each of these transgressions of power, in the past would have been met with fierce opposition, today they are merely brushed aside by the main stream media, and supported by a cult like partisan political power block that has sacrificed all integrity for political ideology. Despite sincere efforts by some, Congressional efforts to hold accountable the out of control executive branch and massive unelected bureaucracies are weak and inadequate.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, famous U.S. philosopher once said “The moment a man says, give up your rights here is money, there is tyranny. It comes masquerading in monks’ cowls, and in citizens’ coats, comes savagely or comes politely. But it is tyranny.”

The signs of tyranny are all around us. One would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to be aware of it. What part of the loss of liberty do you not understand? America is in crisis, and the moment of truth is upon us. Who will you side with? The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the American public, or professional politicians, lobbyists and bureaucrats bent on curtailing individual liberty and taking more power for themselves and the massive unaccountable federal bureaucracies they have created?

Benjamin Franklin understood this issue well and warned us that “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” 

Recognizing Tyranny for what it is.

Today we are looking at nothing less than that point in time when tyranny has begun to win the battle over freedom in America. It has happened many times over the last century in other countries, where charismatic individuals with great oratory skills and a unique facility for deceiving the public have assumed concentrated levels of power, and used that power to attack all those who would oppose them. America has in fact played a major role in rescuing the people of these countries, in their time of crisis, and reestablishing their freedoms. This time it is America itself that is in trouble, and there is no one to rescue us but ourselves. The taking of individual liberty by governments has always ended badly for everyone, usually with millions of deaths. We cannot let this happen to America. We must recognize the enemies of freedom and take action today to defend liberty against tyranny. As Dwight Eisenhower, who understood the threat of tyranny as well as any American leader once said “History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.” 

Internal and external enemies of freedom

This time the enemies of freedom are both internal as well as external to our boarders. Not only are the enemies of individual liberty internal, but they are in positions of enormous power, having been elected by a deceived public that was knowingly and thoughtfully lied to by a sitting President for political purposes. We are facing a President who is doing everything in his power to reduce the freedoms of individual citizens and to transfer power from the people to the federal government. We are fighting a President who believes that the ends justify the means and has little respect for the institutions that have traditionally protected us. For the first time in the history of America we are facing a President and a supporting cast of Democratic lawmakers who have forced a completely partisan law on the American public that is in direct contradiction to the founding principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately the enemies of individual liberty have also been aided and abetted by a free press that has forsaken its sacred responsibility to find and publish the truth no matter where it takes them. Instead they have formed a cozy and mutually beneficial alliance with the established political power base, and freely move back and forth between the halls of government and the skyscrapers of media special interests. We are hopeful that they will once again realize their important role in preserving the republic and rejoin the freedom fighters. But with or without them we must make our stand for freedom now before it is too late.

Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis warned us about the loss of liberty to well-meaning but misguided leaders. “Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”     Louis Brandeis (U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice)

 

Our task is exacerbated by the fact that President Obama is the first African-American President and he has cleverly hidden his tyrannical agenda under a protective umbrella of baseless charges of class warfare and racial bias. We cannot allow anyone to cloud the fundamental issues of individual freedom versus socialism and tyranny with diversionary rhetoric. America has proved on many different levels that it is not a racist nation. Our fight to preserve individual freedom serves all races equally as it serves maximum human progress. We are disappointed with the President not because of the color of his skin but because of his character. He lies to us and deceives us. We are disappointed because he is taking away the freedom of our children and he is irresponsible. We are disappointed because he purposefully divides us when he could so easily have brought us together. We are disappointed that we elected the most powerful man in the world, who is now using all his resources to destroy the fundamental American values that we believe in and that made America exceptional. “The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness…. This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.”            PLATO, The Republic

Abiding by the clear intent of the founding documents

Fortunately the founding documents were designed to protect our “unalienable rights” and in this time of confusion and uncertainty we must look to them for clarity, strength and guidance. They served the birth of our great nation brilliantly and now two centuries later must serve to protect the freedom they established. In particular we need to refocus on the Declaration of Independence which establishes the fundamental relationship between the government and the people.

The Declaration of Independence states that “we were endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. It further states that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.”

Obamacare breaches the letter, the intent and the spirit of the founding documents

Obamacare, while technically a law, is an illegitimate law because it has been arbitrarily and unconstitutionally changed by the President on numerous occasions and more importantly, it does not pass the most important tests of the Declaration of Independence.

No law passed by Congress has the authority to take away from American citizens the “unalienable rights” given to us by our Creator, specifically the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Our right to choose our own doctor, to decide how and in what manner we want to determine and pay for our personal health priorities is part of our right to “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and no governmental body has the authority to take away that right. If they try to, we the people have a responsibility and a duty to replace that government with a new one.  The issue with Obamacare is not about how we pay for or deliver health care services, it is about our (the people’s) relationship with our government and the absolute restrictions on government to take away our “unalienable rights” to “Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Robert K Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice addressed this issue when he wrote “The very purpose of the Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to Life, Liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.” 

 The second major breech of the Declaration of Independence by Obamacare is that it does not have, it never had and it never will have the consent of the governed. Everything about it is wrapped in trickery, deceit, and lies. There is no “consent of the governed” when the President, his designated authorities and leaders of Congress, knowingly, willfully and consistently lie to and mislead the American public about Obamacare.  We do not have consent of the governed, when the government arbitrarily takes, freedom, money, responsibility and security from one group of people and gives it to another, under the guise of a law that did not have a single bipartisan vote, nor ever enjoyed majority support of the American people. Instead we have tyranny. When Obamacare was passed as a result of last minute bribes to key politicians and procedural shenanigans on Christmas Eve and passes by the narrowest of margins, with zero bipartisan support, it definitely did not have the consent of the governed. When the President was reelected based on false promises and blatant lies that were knowingly made for political reasons to give him an advantage in the election, which he won with less than 50% of the vote, it was not with the consent of the governed.  For a law that dramatically changes 20% of the economy and impacts every single American in the most personal manner, the consent of the people must be bi-partisan and overwhelming to be legitimate.  Above all other arguments, the fact is, that it is simply impossible to have the consent of the governed to a law that nobody in Congress read, that nobody understands and that is still being written by bureaucrats three years later.

James Madison foresaw this problem and confirmed this argument in the Federalist papers. It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what is will be tomorrow.” – James Madison Federalist Papers, No. 62, February 27, 1788

 

In effect Obamacare is an open ended, undefined, illegal power shift from individuals to the federal government, which affects every aspect of our lives. Obamacare is much more than an insult to America, it is the virulent cancer of tyranny that must be destroyed.

It is not just the words of the Declaration of Independence that are being violated by Obamacare, but it is the spirit and soul of America itself that is being trampled on and spat upon. If we accept this gross infraction on our liberty we will have paved the way for our own demise. Abraham Lincoln reminded us that, “Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises [among you].”    

Obamacare crosses the red line of tyranny that has never been crossed in American history and never should be again. If unchecked it will lead to the rule of tyrants versus the rule of law. Those of you who have blindly supported it should be ashamed that you put your unquestioned faith in an untested individual who has been deceitful in promoting a very bad and un-American law that destroys individual liberty. It is obvious now that the real intent of Obamacare is to transfer control of a huge portion of American life from individual citizens to the federal government. If we allow that to be accomplished individual liberties will be destroyed and freedom in America will never be the same.

You should be ashamed that you put our freedoms at risk by passing a law you did not read that had enormous consequences to all Americans. There is no excuse. Even if Obamacare was a good law, which it certainly is not, the process for approving it was corrupt and inappropriate.

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” – James Madison   Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788

 

 

We demand higher standards of honesty, integrity and leadership from all of our elected officials.

As Americans we have been patient but make no mistake about our strength of purpose. We are not like Europeans who have too often succumbed to the false promises of tyranny only to have America come to their rescue.  We are not socialists who put too little value on individual liberty and feed off the successes of capitalism while attacking it.  And we are not stupid. We give people the benefit of the doubt but won’t be fooled again by a slick salesman selling snake oil. Most importantly, we are honest, hard-working Americans who believe in individual freedom, personal responsibility, maximum choice, competition and capitalism. We do not want the federal government making our health care decisions, and forcing us to spend 20% of our hard earned money on health care. We do not support intergenerational theft and most importantly, we demand honesty and integrity from our elected officials. Yes, we are also good hearted Americans and we want to see everybody, regardless of race, sex, age or health status have access to high quality health care at an affordable price. There are many alternatives to Obamacare that can achieve those goals. Lastly, we are patriots who relentlessly support the principles enumerated in America’s Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. And while, in the past when tyranny knocked on our door, we  have looked to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to protect our interests it is now time to call on our faith in our most precious founding document, The Declaration of Independence, to protect us at this most difficult and complex juncture.

When a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, Apr. 28, 1788

 

Immediate steps of action

Therefore, based on the power vested in us by the Declaration of Independence, we the people, demand that you, the Congress, support us in the immediate repeal of this illegitimate law. We also demand that you pass additional laws to see that this breech of the principles of the Declaration of Independence never happens again. These laws will embrace the following principles.

1. Truth and transparency are the foundation of freedom and the enemy of tyranny. Without truth there can be no trust and without  trust the government cannot function. Therefore any government official, either elected or unelected, who knowingly lies to the Congress or the American public will be dismissed from office without compensation and will forfeit any and all benefits including retirement. They may also be subject to criminal penalties. Any government employee that knows about other employees that are engaged in illegal or inappropriate activities and does not report them will be held liable and subject to similar penalties. Because the Department of Justice has a conflict of interest Congress will appoint an independent prosecutor, to pursue all government related violations of the law, past and present.
2. No Representatives or Senators will be allowed to vote for a bill that they have not read.
3. No law can be passed that can in its broadest interpretation infringe upon a citizens’ right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
4. No law can be passed that leaves a substantial portion of the law to be interpreted in the future by unelected bureaucrats. If significant portions of the law or its regulations have not been written, then they must gain approval again once they are finalized before the law is valid.
5. Once a law is effective any major changes to it must be approved by Congress before those changes become effective.
6. Any law that has a potentially significant impact on, or affects the entire population must receive bipartisan support and receive at least two thirds approval of the House of Representatives.
7.  The House and the Senate will each designate a committee to review all proposed legislation with respect to protecting its impact on individual freedom, responsibility, independence and privacy and make an appropriate recommendation to Congress.
8. No law can be passed that funds personal services for one generation by indebting future generations.

You were elected to lead us but you have lost the trust of the American people and you will not be able to effectively govern our country until you regain it. You can start by fulfilling your most important responsibility, to protect our God given rights as outlined in the founding documents. You have stirred the blood of freedom that runs through our veins and you can be sure that we will follow the sage advice of our founding fathers to never accept tyranny in any of its ugly forms. This is what separates America from everybody else and makes us an exceptional country. You must protect our freedoms or make room for others that will. You must reject tyranny as we reject tyranny. This is not just the end of a bad idea it is the beginning of a new revolution that embraces individual freedom, responsibility, independence and privacy.

M I FRIP

Informed Patriot

Dear Mr. Putin

I am only one individual American with no special position of government, political or financial power, but I represent a much broader power base that you may not understand or appreciate. While you may be receiving mixed signals from our current leaders, it is critical that you do not underestimate the American people, our commitment to individual liberty and our willingness to back up our convictions with whatever sacrifice is necessary. So, I am glad to have this opportunity to respond to your communication to me and my fellow Americans in your New York Times Op-Ed.

It is both ironic and fortuitous that you have chosen to exercise the most sacred right of all Americans, to communicate to us, the God given right to free speech. While we often take this and other critical rights, protecting individual freedom, for granted, it is the first example of why America is an exceptional country. We are exceptional because will fight just as hard for your right to free speech as we will for our own.

Unlike any other country in the world, America was founded on a set of ideals and laws permanently enshrined in our founding documents; the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and The Bill of Rights. These laws spell out very clearly that “we the people” are in charge of our own destiny and they protect us from tyranny, even tyranny from our own government.

It is in this spirit of the first Amendment, that I welcome your explanation of your position on Syria, the United Nations, the prospect of America taking a military action against the Syrian government and even your lecture to us about the dangers of promoting American exceptionalism. I welcome this discussion, because in a free society a healthy open debate leads to better decisions and greater progress.

You obviously understand and respect the power of free speech, as you adroitly exercised it in your direct communication to the American public. It is a powerful force which is essential to democracy, but which can also be manipulated by the political masters of Machiavellian deception. Perhaps you can demonstrate your good intentions by having the courage and courtesy to extend my response to you, directly to the Russian public.

On Syria

As you have witnessed, by the reaction of the American people to the prospect of another military intervention in the Middle East, Americans by nature are a peace loving people. But, please don’t make the mistake of interpreting our resistance to a poorly thought out plan, being promoted by our political leaders, as any indication of a lack of willingness to make whatever sacrifices that are necessary to protect against clear and present threats to the security interests of the United States and its allies.
You make a lot of very good points about why America should not make a military strike against Syria. Many of us, like you, do not believe that it makes sense for America to intervene in a foreign civil war where there are no clear objectives and where there is no clear and direct threat to the security interests of the US. It is not our role to be the policeman of the world, or to punish all the bad actors.  However, it is our role to defend freedom and democracy whenever and wherever we can, without forcing it on people who are not ready for it, don’t understand it and don’t want it.

While our elected political leaders have not provided you, us or the many countries comprising the Mid-East region with a clear and unambiguous position, let me be very clear about the commitment of the American people. We will defend Israel as if it were Alaska. Any threats to Israel by Iran or any other country will be considered a direct threat to us and will be met with the full force and will of the American people.

There are many ways to advance the cause of freedom and military action should be a last consideration. We must be very careful with when and how we exercise the great power that we have. We prefer the Theodore Roosevelt foreign policy of “talk softly and carry a big stick”. In the meantime, we are committed to the policy of peace through strength, and we fully support building our military strength.

An exceptional responsibility for an exceptional country

As the leader of the free world, America has an exceptional responsibility to protect and to advance the cause of individual freedom throughout the world. We remain the best hope in the world for the survival of individual freedom. We are an exceptional country not just because we are free but because we have demonstrated time after time over history, our willingness to sacrifice our own lives so that others throughout the world can enjoy the same freedoms that have made America a great country.

On U.S. Russia relations and the United Nations

You make a good point about how America and Russia were once allies before we became cold war enemies. We need only to look at the historical relationship between the U.S. and Germany and the U.S. and Japan to recognize the immense potential of a positive relationship developing between Russia and America. It did not take very long for the bitterness of WWII’s arch enemies to give way to the rewards, success and friendship of free and open societies. The Marshall plan is a great example of how we might approach solving some of the great problems facing our world today, like a fair and peaceful solution to the Mid-East conflict. The evidence is overwhelming. Russia and the U.S. could be partners in progress. We have much more to unite us than we have to divide us. We face the same terrorist threats and the same concerns over nuclear proliferation. We have the same desire to advance our citizens with respect to their health, education and economic success. We all want to raise our families in peace and prosperity.

We also appreciate the founding purpose of the United Nations, but we have legitimate reasons to be skeptical of it, not the least of which, is the lack of its effectiveness, its socialistic leanings and the historical lack of cooperation between the U.S and Russia. It comes down to an issue of trust, and freedom, which goes to the heart of the American soul. We are fierce individualists. We believe that the power of government rests with the individual citizens who have a responsibility to exercise control over their government. The government is there to serve us, not to control us. Every time we, as individuals, give up power and personal responsibility to government entities we give up our individual liberties. The further away (local, state, national, and international) the governmental entity is, the worse the outcome and the harder it is to get the power back. Every time we give up our individual liberties we reduce progress for all humans.

We have had our own taste of socialism over the last few years under the leadership of President Obama, and it is a bitter and disappointing experience. Many of us view the United Nations as just another large bureaucratic, ineffective and unaccountable organization diluting the power of the American citizen and promoting anti-American sentiment throughout the world.

America’s bigger challenges

Speaking of accountability, America faces much larger challenges than Syria. Today, America is involved in a gigantic struggle for its own soul and its future. Will we embrace the concepts of maximum individual freedom, responsibility, independence and privacy like our founders envisioned or will we allow huge unaccountable bureaucracies to take our freedoms from us? Will we succumb to the bribery of low information voters with government handouts and the corruption of giant special interest lobbyists or will we stand up for truth and justice and our belief in self reliance and capitalism which are the core principles on which this great country was built?

Unfortunately our current President seems to agree with you about American Exceptionalism. He apologizes to the world for an America he should be proud of.  Oh, he says the right words to us, but he acts just the opposite. He promises boldly what he knows he can’t deliver. He hides the truth and he supports the people who work for him, who lie in front of Congressional hearings. He does not respect the will of the American people and he disrespects the institutions that have been set up to protect us. He spends our grandchildren’s money with no sense of responsibility nor does he have any inkling of the horrendous impending consequences for America of his bad leadership. He attacks our energy independence, capitalism, free enterprise and the institutions that have made America great. He successfully divides America when he could easily be uniting it. Instead of celebrating the progress we have made on racial equality, he sows the seeds of discontent. He forces really bad laws (like Obamacare) on the public against their will. He is aided and abetted by a free press that has forgot and/or ignored their critical responsibilities to protect our democracy by demanding the truth wherever it leads.  We have lost more freedoms to our internal enemies over the last five years than we have lost to our external enemies over the last 50 years.

So Mr. Putin, you see that we have a lot bigger problems that America needs to address instead of creating a new one by invading Syria. Fortunately, we are an exceptional country and the forces of freedom and responsibility will soon emerge with an even greater conviction to reestablish the rule of the people over our government. We are an exceptional country because we are protected by a Constitution and a Bill of Rights and a Declaration of Independence that very specifically limit the power of the federal government in favor of the individual and the States. We are an exceptional country because we recognize that our freedoms were given to us by our Creator and no government, religious organization or corporate bureaucracy has any right to take any of our freedoms away from us. Not even Prince Machiavelli himself. Be assured that we will put our own house in order and be the world leader that speaks clearly and unambiguously.

So please, don’t let the America you see today give you a false impression of weakness or lack of conviction. We are not happy with what has happened to America over the last five years. Democracy is imperfect and sometimes we vote with our hearts and not our heads. But America always gets it right in the long run and there is nothing more powerful than a united free people that finally figures out that they have been misled.

A personal challenge for you

So now, President Putin, it’s time to, as we say in America, to “put your money where your mouth is”.  The real world issues are nuclear proliferation, Iran, world-wide terrorism sponsored by Islamic terrorists, and world economic success. We need Russia to come together with America and guarantee that Iran will not get nuclear capability and that those countries that already have it will not allow it to be provided to others. Nuclear catastrophe remains the biggest threat to the world and you, President Putin, could become a world-wide hero by joining America and other peace loving countries to lead a grand plan to reduce the nuclear threat to humanity. I can only speak as an individual, but I believe a world wide effort led by Russia and America, starting with Iran, would be welcome by the American people. It is certainly a much better idea than spending trillions of dollars on future wars that will surely come if we don’t take aggressive action to solve this problem now. In the spirit of capitalism Russia and its people could benefit greatly by joining America as partners in peace.  Given what happened to Japan and Germany, it’s really not that great of a leap to envision Russia and America coming together in peace and prosperity.

On American exceptionalism

Finally, there may be a language misunderstanding with respect to “American exceptionalism.” We agree with you that as individuals we are all equal in the eyes of the Lord. None of us by nature are superior to the rest of us. We want the same things for our families as the people of any other country; security and the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. These are natural rights of all humans and we have a responsibility to help all humans secure these rights. But this is not to be confused with socialism or communism which the vast majority of Americans do not believe in. While we believe in equal opportunity we do not believe in equal outcome. Every individual has the right to distinguish themselves (to become exceptional) through, hard work, education, perseverance, risk taking, individual choices and yes even luck. We believe in private property, capitalism, self-reliance and individual achievement and we encourage exceptionalism. Whether it’s academics, sports, business, music or community service, or our service to our country, we encourage and honor exceptionalism.

It is not dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional. It is only dangerous if they don’t earn it or deserve it. It’s like the Olympics. Every four years we get together to see, who the most exceptional athletes in the world compete. And every time we are amazed at how exceptional these athletes are. They are exceptional because they are talented, train hard and exercise discipline. This is a good thing to encourage and they deserve their gold metals, not to have them redistributed to those that were not exceptional.  We do not encourage people to think of themselves as exceptional, because of their color or their political status, their connections or their ethnicity. To consider them exceptional they have to earn it.

America is exceptional for very different reasons. America is much more than a physical space with great natural resources. America is much more than a nation state with an exceptional history of fighting for the freedom of other nations thousands of miles away. America is an idea of individual liberty and personal responsibility that can help people throughout the world. America is a way of life, and a belief in the sovereignty of the individual. America is philosophy that is enshrined in our founding documents. America is exceptional because it is the best hope for freedom for the rest of the world. We are proud and exceptionally lucky to be Americans. We understand that our freedom is dependent on our ability to recognize and fulfill our responsibilities as individuals and as a country. We also understand that individual freedom can only be sustained to the degree that we exercise an equal level of responsibility as individuals and as a country.

Just as you say that “we must not forget that God created us equal” we must also remember that God gave to us as individuals the right to self-determination and there is no doubt that God did that with the expectation that we would use that right to become better human beings- perhaps even exceptional ones.

Sincerely,  MI FRIP