Letters to Editor

Dear Editor: 

Amendment 1 ( Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression) to the U.S. Constitution,

is worded as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble. and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". 

As illustrated on the LeFlore County Veterans Memorial at the courthouse, over 325 patriotic men and women fought and died for our American rights, liberties and pursuit of happiness. As listed above in Amendment 1 to our Constitution, "we the people" shall not be prohibited the free exercise of religion, speech or the press.

Hundreds of thousands of good, faithful and dedicated men and women, "made the supreme sacrifice" out of love for their friends, relatives, neighbors, for their love of God and country.

Now, over two-hundred years have gone by and as all can plainly see, every year the very foundation of America keeps crumbling away beneath our feet. Our once "United States of America" is fast becoming the "Divided States of America".

According to the information I get, America is made up of a population of eighty-

five percent who profess to be Christians. The remaining fifteen-percent, then, are of other faiths, beliefs, ideology or religions and they have the right, according to our Constitution, to worship whatever God they want to, or not to worship at all.

That is their prerogative! I must assume that since 85% of America's are Christian, we have that many or more here in LeFlore County Oklahoma, in the heart of the so called "Bible Belt". And, they constitute a clear majority of the tax payers in the county! Throughout history, except under "dictactorships" or other oppressive forms of government, "the majority rule's"! An old cliche' says "when in Rome, do as the Roman's do" ! Yet, a clear minority wants to, and, tries to, at every opportunity, suppress the rights and liberties of the 85% who are Christians. That same minority not only took prayer out of our schools in 1963, they now want to remove God's name from the Pledge of Allegiance, from our currency, or anywhere it is used! I've even read where they suggest that we may have to put a cover over our monument if it is protested. Some of those same type people believe that we should put sacks over all the grave markers of our deceased veterans in National Cemeteries!

Can you imagine that?

The United States of America, was historically, without doubt, founded by obviously religious founding fathers, statesmen, who sought guidance from God, just as do the preambles to the Constitutions of all fifty states, Oklahoma included. The men who drafted our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and our Declaration of Independence, as written in history books, resorted to evoking the name of God, The Almighty. Our Heavenly Father, or, the Creator many times. Such is also the case with the preambles to the Constitutions of all fifty states.  

This issue is not a political, or partisan one. Although I was a Democrat at the time, I liked president Ronald Reagan and many of his references to God.  Like 'When this nation fails to live under God, it will be a nation gone under"!

Look around, people of all faiths, will you not agree that unless this country changes for the better, and, soon, unless we take actions to stop the greed, dishonesty and corruption, we are soon going to be "a nation gone under"! And, I don't care what you believe in, or your age, we are all fast approaching a point where all of our rights, liberties and freedom's will no longer exist, a state of total financial collapse, the devaluation of the dollar. Because all the gold in Fort Knox will not cover Thirteen-Million-Dollars of national debt to China! 

The emotions and mental status, moral decadence, laws of nature being broken, and total disregard of a government regarding the wants and desires of over 300 million people in this country.

Look at all the "changes" we have undergone since January of this year! Billions of dollars had to be spent to keep big businesses afloat, the "stimulus plan" has not worked, over fifteen-million people are out of work, many have lost their homes and everything they owned.

People are standing in lines waiting for "financial handouts from the government" in big cities like Detroit and Chicago. Our government is passing laws to further restrict our lifestyles, such as the 1,990 page Health Care Reform bill just passed in the house last weekend.

They did not want us to read it because I'd bet anything it has more "pork projects" and "earmarks" than we have ever seen.

The whole county desperately needs some kind of unified purpose to stand behind, be it religious or not! Something to put a stop to the greed, dishonesty, corruption and moral decadence. Perhaps a few "rules to live by" that have for too long now been ignored?

It is clearly Evil what is happening to you and I, the masses, in this world today, We are only "pawns in the game of life", being "led to slaughter like lambs". Before we know it, the dollar will be worthless. China will "foreclose on our National debt" and the only thing we have left is our property. Not actually, because our government owns that too. And, I would advise everyone not to send your old wedding rings, gold and jewels to those jokers on television, you may need them. The value of gold has tripled since the year 2000. It is worth over $1,000 an ounce now. And, you don't know how much those hucksters on TV will try to "short you"!

Out of over 45,000 residents of LeFlore County, only a handful have written negative letters or protested our Ten Commandment monument at the courthouse. And, for the life of me, I do not know why that clear minority is so upset! No one is going to hold a gun on anyone and make them look at or read those "ten rules to live by". America would be a lot better off now had some in big business, on Wall Street and in Washington, DC, would have tried to live by "thou shall not steal". "The root of ALL Evil... IS...the LOVE of Money"!  But hey, maybe that all depends on what the definition of is..."is"!

God Bless America Again....PLEASE !!!

Very Sincerely Yours,
Don Barnes
Poteau, Oklahoma