What do I want in a president? Simple
Letter to the Editor
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

It was a typically raucous recent evening at the Kirby household, reading the light, frothy and "seditious" Federalist Papers . In the very first essay, written by Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, I came across this sublimely sonorous axiom: "For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution."

Two-hundred-twenty years after that fecund giant wrote this particularly pithy passage, its incredible power naturally suddenly got me thinking about the direction I lean politically -- along with my idea of a good president, or leader in general.

Everyone has their own peculiar notion of a decent president. Some people like presidents who lower taxes and run up the largest federal budget deficit in history. Others confide all their trust in a president who holds human beings in prison indefinitely, without charge, torturing them in order to win, or keep the peace at any cost.

There also are those who truly adore a president who bugs his or her citizens' homes in the name of "freedom" without a warrant -- until it happens to them personally, of course. Then, strangely enough, it instantly becomes an unforgivable defamation of their sacred constitutional rights. Heh, imagine that.

I have one criterion for an OK president: Can I criticize him or her without being threatened with arrest; without brutality; without having an FBI van pull up outside my house; without being called unpatriotic, a traitor or a commie worm?

Most important of all, dearest to my heart: Can I disagree with presidential policies without alienating and losing friends in this lovely little place I've called home since 1977, since I was a toddler?

Hallelujah! I'm not going to have any of these multitudinous problems of the past eight years during the next four.

Nathan Kirby, Augusta

From the Tuesday, April 14, 2009 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
Reader Comments
Note: Comments are not edited and don't represent the views of The Augusta Chronicle. Please read our full comments policy. To report a post that may be inappropriate, click the icon.
Your comment will be attributed to
YOUR MESSAGE:
You have 1200 characters left.


advertisement

advertisement

TopJobs


Augusta-area Top Jobs
Community Director needed for a Class A Tax Credit Property. Exceptional team member will have 3-5 years of Property Management experience. Yardi Knowledge is a plus fax resume 706-869-0600 (more)
Clerical >Office Work< $-25 | hr+ Great Benefits Serves as administrative support to warden. Call us at 706.868.6800 Full Time | Permanent Pro Resources $185 J#233 (more)
General Repairs MAINTENANCE Call (706)-868-6800 Provide maintenance and repair of equipment and facilities. Full Time & Permanent. Pro Resources $185 Svc Fee PERM $12.12 | hr & Benefits (more)


© 2009 The Augusta Chronicle|Terms of service|About our ads|Help|Contact us|Subscribe|Local business listings


advertisement
advertisement