A Letter to my Senators and Reps

Living in Texas, both of my US Senators and my US Representative are Republicans. Below is a copy of the email I sent to them today.

Dear _____,

I write in opposition to President Bush's tactics in addressing the problem of terrorism. I support strong, assertive tactics to combat threats to the security of our nation and our world that show due deference to a responsible reading of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, as well as diligent attention to ethical standards in the Judeo-Christian tradition that our legal standards are built upon.  This is not the case in too many instances to name with the present administration, including secret prisons, torture tactics, and either incompetence (at best) or neglect (at worst) regarding the civil liberties of our nation. The president's oath of office, after all, is to uphold the Constitution. This oath is instructive because it commits him to carefully guard not only our people, but more importantly our way of life. The only way to guard our way of life is to first and foremost live and govern according to it. While the President neglects carefully governing according to a responsible reading of the Constitution and the theological and philosophical foundations that it is built upon, competing ideologies win the battle for our world by convincing us and our leaders that preserving our present lives is to be done by any means necessary, thus inviting us to experiment with and even embrace alternate ethics that fly in the face of what we say we stand for.  I am writing to voice my expectation that you, my duly elected _______, will stand against tactics that are in blatant opposition to our way of life, recognizing that capitulating to these tactics is embracing ways of life that we condemn with our rhetoric. As always, our actions speak louder than our words. I urge you to act. Please hold the President and the administration fully accountable for their actions for the sake of our moral integrity and our democratic ideology, which ultimately are our only truly compelling sources for leading the world.  Sincerely, Guy M. Williams