Unity felt 50 years ago;
it's hard to find today
I, like many of you, have been watching the videos of the successful Apollo 11 landing on the moon 50 years ago. I remember well the positive feelings we all shared at that time. We, as a nation, had achieved something President Kennedy called for at Rice University (September 1962): "We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
Yes, we were embroiled in a failing and fruitless war in Vietnam. As a nation we had just experienced more assassinations, riots and turmoil than at any time since the Civil War, but we were trying to become a nation that knew no boundaries.
We could and did accomplish an achievement no one believed was possible.
Sadly, those positive feelings have seemingly vanished. In their place, we have a leader who stokes fears of the "other," as he calls for chants to put someone in jail or send folks back home if they dare disagree with him. Many of my fellow Americans have fallen for this bully who loves beating up on the "other." In my opinion he is truly a pale, pathetic excuse of a man.
This nation was founded because of bullies who tried to tell the "other" (our forefathers) how to live. A true leader would be working to pull us together to accomplish other truly great achievements.
Attacking anyone who does not agree with you is not the American way. Try, try to remember what Patrick Henry and others have said: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Rejoice in our differences!
They are what makes us strong and inventive. And realize that loving our country often does mean dissent -- ask those who early on said the Vietnam War was wrong or disagreed with "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
We can and must be better than this pettiness.
Phyllis J. Johnson
Springdale
'Love it or leave it' mantra
heard in U.S. at other times
The most sacred and solemn duty of citizens in a democratic society is to speak out when they believe their government's policies and/or actions are antithetical to the well being of their lives. The right to question their government is essential to the very nature of democracy, and to do so without recriminations or threats.
"Love it or leave it" is a slogan used against the anti-Vietnam War protestors who believed their government was in a conflict that had no justification and American lives were endangered for a cause that was questionable, concerns that history proved to be legitimate. "Love it or leave it" was a slogan used against civil rights protestors of the same era who believed their government was morally and constitutionally wrong in its treatment of people of color. These protesters, these concerned American citizens, created a dialogue, a set of questions, an attention to events they considered important enough to have their voices heard. They loved their country and so they stayed and fought for it, not in a battlefield of war but a battlefield of ideology. Right or wrong, they performed their duties as democratic citizens.
Americans do not run from a fight, either military or civilian. They stay and take a stand to support the values they believe are essential to what it means to call themselves Americans. Remember our civic lessons. Remember our history. Believe in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
Mary Jo Barnes
Rogers
Commentary on 07/20/2019