'The Swamp,' dear friends, is us

If there is one thing on which most Americans agree, it is that Washington, D.C., and each state capitol is a swamp. A place “good” local people go if successfully elected.

When they arrive, they spontaneously morph into narcissistic sociopathic monsters or angelic paladins raging against the machinations of “The Swamp.” The divergence in American opinion appears only when we decide who is what role, but never questions that there is a “Swamp.”

How convenient this attitude is. One never needs to face up to the fact that you or your neighbor is a “Swamp Thing” because, by gollies, you don’t live there. But wait, did you vote for a “Swamp Thing”? Did you stay home on Election Day, failing a potential “Paladin”? If you think you voted for a “Paladin,” why does half the country think they are a “Swamp Thing”?

There is a plausible explanation. The Bible (Genesis 6:12, Romans 3:23) clearly states that we are all fallen, i.e. “Swamp Things.” Most humanist theories have also adopted the concept of “original sin” (“What’s So Good About Original Sin?”, Crispin Sartwell, The New York Times, May 21, 2018).

So according to both theories, America is a “Swamp,” we are all “Swamp Things, and there are no “Paladins” among us.

Fortunately for us, John Adams, Founding Father and Unitarian, knew this to be the case and through Article One of the U.S. Constitution made America a “nation of laws and not of men.” Hint: The solution to our immediate national crisis is addressed in detail in Sections 2 and 3 of Article One.

Obey “Swamp Things.”

KEITH FRANKLIN

Madison Heights

Bribery, pure and simple

It is in our national interest to maintain the Ukraine as an independent nation. Russia has effectively invaded the country to “protect” ethnic Russians. Ukraine desperately needs our immediate assistance to stop the Russians.

President Trump withheld this badly needed military assistance and used it to bribe the Ukraines to get dirt in his political rival Joe Biden.

There is no gray area here. His actions are a betrayal of our vital national interests, a betrayal of the oath of office, a betrayal of all of us and most assuredly an impeachable offense. All of the diversions and smoke screens cannot hide this truth. Stand up. Speak out.

STEPHEN C. MARTIN

Amherst

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