<< I ame across this doing a search under her name, Great letter:
An Open Letter to Rep. Barbara Lee
Ms. Lee,
In your letter of explanation posted on commondreams.org, you stated, "I confronted the solemn responsibility of voting to authorize the nation to go to war. Some believe this resolution was only symbolic, designed to show national resolve. But I could not ignore that it provided explicit authority, under the War Powers Resolution and the Constitution, to go to war." And further, "In granting these overly broad powers, the Congress failed its responsibility to understand the dimensions of its declaration. I could not support such a grant of war-making authority to the president; I believe it would put more innocent lives at risk."
I found your letter to be offensive both politically and personally. Not only have you, as an elected official, committed the most grievous of errors, you have done so at a time that makes it beyond reprehensible.
Let me explain my choice of terms.
I found your explanation offensive politically because you, as an elected official, placed in office at the whim of your constituents to vote their will, have abrogated that responsibility by ignoring the will of the people and instead voting your own twisted, personal agenda. You have violated the spirit of the office and in doing so, deserve to be recalled. It is my fervent hope that your constituents see your actions in the same way.
I found your explanation offensive personally because I abhor people who are duplicitous and self-serving. You have proven yourself to be all of the above and more. You were elected to reflect the will of the people, not to promote your own personal agenda. Your self-aggrandizement in using this tragedy as a platform to promote your socialist agenda and doing so at a time when we need, as Americans, to pull together is despicable. Your blatant attempt to call attention to yourself during this crisis is a sign of your disrespect for the system you represent, the people who elected you, and those that pay your salary.
We are facing a disaster of unprecedented proportions. Never have so many American lives been lost at one time and in one place. The one good thing to come out of a tragedy of this magnitude is that it has allowed, nay, forced us to overcome political, racial, religious, and economic barriers. Never have we been as united as we are today. Never have we set aside our differences and in a manner so open as to defy reason or prediction.
Then there is you. Your act shows that you cannot be one of us. Your act shows that you think so little of us and hold your own ideals and intellect above that of the Americans you represent, above your fellow Congresspersons, above our leaders, their advisors, clerics, and experts.
The only other explanation that I can conceive is that you just cannot stand to see us unite and set aside our differences. You cannot stand that the divisiveness of the past can be overcome and that your career, built on that same divisiveness, is in danger. You, like other demagogues around the world, feed on hate and pain and anger.
Let me be the first to tell you that you will not succeed. Your lone voice of dissent will not sway the right-thinking Americans who cherish their country, their freedom, and their way of life. You will not cause us to fight among ourselves and you will not weaken the spirit that is stronger now than it has ever been. You will not finish the job that the terrorists started.
We will have our retribution. We will hunt down and destroy the animals that attacked us because to do anything else would be to admit defeat. If you learn one thing about this country, Ms. Lee, learn this: We will never give up. We will not be destroyed by enemies from outside of our borders and we will not be divided by enemies from within.
David Slocum
Patriot >>
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