Letters to the Editor for Sunday, July 13, 2008

By Logan Anderson

Published: July 12, 2008

Court’s gun ruling grounded in history
Normally, I read the letters to the editor for the sake of gauging the most recent liberal rant for the utopia that is Socialism. But today, I felt compelled to respond to the absolute lack of historical education contained in David McLoughlin’s July 8 letter.

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Apparently, he and I live in separate Americas. To begin, I believe in the inherent goodness of this nation which was bequeathed to us by our forefathers, not a nation of flagellating self-doubters who refer to the authors of the Constitution as “a bunch of slaveholders writing about equality.” Secondly, I read and study history, as opposed to revising it to satiate my guilt for having been born in America.

As a clear correction, James Madison, primary author of the United States Constitution said of slavery, “We have seen the mere distinction of color made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man.” In addition, Madison held a leading position in the American Colonization Society, a group formed nearly at our nation’s founding that encouraged and worked for the emancipation of all men.

I could write a treatise on the likes of John Jay, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams who were in similar groups, or men like George Washington, George Wythe and John Randolph who freed their slaves upon considering the mantle of freedom bestowed by Providence. But suffice it to say, our forefathers were hardly the men described by this blanket statement.

In the second, to infer that Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion in Heller, which by itself was succinct and well written, was nefarious and “activist” is not only wrong but borders on the absurd. The duty of the Supreme Court is twofold: to apply the Constitutional “litmus test” to written law and oversee disputes between States. As this applies, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” (emphasis mine), seems pretty straightforward.

Also, when one looks at the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the Protection clauses of the Third and Fourth, Due Process, Jury and Punishment clauses of the Fifth through Eighth, a pattern of enumerating personal rights is clear. Does the letter writer suggest that in a document as poured over as this, ratified by 13 member states after being thoroughly read over by those legislatures, there was no grammarian to tell everyone they were putting a right given to the states (Nine and Ten) in the wrong place? Further, when they clearly meant of the People everywhere else to regard the individual, then why define it differently in one place? Either the writers of the Bills of Rights meant for this right to be imparted to the individual member of society or the American Medical Association should regard the Second Amendment as the first recorded case of ADHD in our history.

To answer Mr. McLoughlin’s question, as a citizen and gun owner, along with many of my brethren, I would wholly and willfully answer the call to militia should it ever be necessary to protect this nation from harm. I hope that he can and should expect this of law abiding gun owners in this nation.

Finally, no right is without limit, as Justice Scalia wisely allowed for in the opinion. You cannot yell fire in a theater, and you aren’t allowed to publish U.S. military movements in a newspaper. Is this not a limit to the First Amendment? We cannot walk into a Federal building or airport without being subject to search. Is this not a limit to the Fourth? I believe Justice Scalia did not apply “activism” to the decision, and that he fulfilled his duty to the letter.
MICHAEL ERNETTE
Lynchburg

Drill at home
Are you aware of the voting records of the people you have helped to place in office? Many of these politicians are not looking out for your welfare, but rather their own. They need to be replaced.

The high costs at the pump, the high electrical bills with new increases coming, the higher food prices have all come from the hands of your political leaders who are paying much more attention to the environmentalists rather than looking out for the majority of the populous.

Yes, clean air and a cleaner environment are great, but at what cost to the average American? We have a vast supply of petroleum within our own borders. All we need to do is drill for it. Yes it will take a while to bring it to the market, but look at all the time that has been wasted already. Back in 1998 the cost of a barrel of oil was $19 and that is when President Clinton placed a hold on any future drilling in Alaska. Now we are using vast quantities of our grain products to produce bio-fuels, which give us fewer miles per gallon in our vehicles, don’t burn as cleanly and jack up the cost of many of the food supplies that we consume. Make a call to your senators and to your congressman and tell them to vote to drill within our own land, let’s gain our independence from foreign markets. If they refuse to comply we have an election coming up soon enough for you to make your displeasure with them known.

One last item, both of the candidates for president are in the pockets of the environmentalists. This will guarantee us that we will never be energy efficient in the near future. Their goal is only to find a cleaner alternative to our energy needs, even though we have more than enough oil within our own country to supply our needs for many a year, if we would only go after it. If you all want some relief, call your elected officials and demand that they drill here and drill now.
TED SPOLOWITZ
Lynchburg

We’ve been invaded
While Iraq was being “liberated,” our county was under a peaceful takeover virtually undetected. The invaders are at the other end of the gas pump nozzle, at the tip of our fork, playing in the floor with our children and pets and covering our backs. They’re either inflating the prices, poisoning our food, or limiting us on all of the things we’ve become dependent on them for. Manufacturing, food production and jobs have all been outsourced. Foreign countries supply most of our needs. We’re depending on, in some cases, our enemies for our survival. We’re being held hostage!

Perhaps President Bush’s real “Axes of Evil” are the corporations who sold us out, with the help of our own government. Yes, greed and thirst for power have brought us to this point.

We need a revolution in this country, in the form of mass voting, to take our country back and regain the respect and trust that has been lost.

It is sad and shocking to see how far the mighty have fallen in such a short period of time, but that is what happens when the proverbial fox is allowed into the hen house, destruction and devastation.

Let’s keep that from happening again. Please!
BARBARA HARE
Forest