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Jon Rogers of Aurora writes:

“We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. And there is no health in us.” - Morning Prayer, General Confession, Book of Common Prayer Reading Bill Johnson’s columns the past few days, regarding the criminalization of being a kid, and then reading other stories and headlines on things our government and our people have done in the past few weeks, I am thinking very heavily on the quotation above.
I have written letters in the past, unpublished, on the seemingly endless capacity of those in charge to do the wrong thing too often, and the equally endless capacity of those they allegedly are responsible to for allowing let them get away with it.
As a people, Americans (that is to say, residents of the United States in this context) have always paid a great deal of lip service to tolerance and freedoms of things like speech and religion, and for the opportunity to live the great American dream, whatever that means. But is seems that in the years since World War Two we have drifted away from this; away from what our founding fathers conceived as the basic ethos for this country.
With the upcoming elections, we are given a choice, which turns out to be really no choice at all, between what we are told are competing political ideologies, but which are once again just the opposite sides of the same coin, or the verses of a song with the same chorus.
It is high time for the citizens of our nation to take back the freedoms paid for so dearly over the past 2 1/3 centuries and tell the so-called leaders that we are simply tired of everything being about money and power, and that we want the basics of our Constitution to once again control. We don’t need liberal or conservative politicians, we don’t need more government or more laws. What we need is leader that will do the right thing for EVERYONE, all the time.
Protect our poor and helpless, make sure enough food is there to feed the hungry, make sure the elderly and the children get health care, make sure we think three or four times before we commit ourselves and our posterity to wars that only mean something to the self-serving and selfish politicians that started them. For the sake of all that is good in this world, stop worrying about what some spoiled and over-paid actor or athlete is doing and start worrying about our neighbors. AND finally, take some sort of a stand and tell those who would lead us, “Enough already! You want the job? OK, agree to DO the damn job and do it right for a change; don’t just give us empty promises and then go out and ignore us. Don’t be so busy trying to get re-elected that you forget why you are really there.”

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Jon,
Nice letter, I agree with you regarding the state of our current politics. With that said, with the things you want you will be labeled a socialist and bleeding heart liberal because you want more than just yourself taken care of, looking out for the good of the whole instead of the self is very out of vogue with the conservatives. It is each man for himself these days, I have mine why should I pay for you? This is the current state of America, it all starts at the top with the "Decider", after all he knows what's best for us. This is the sad state of the US.

Sad state indeed when one cant see the U.S. hating liberals putting politics ahead of their countries success. Jon and Karl should get a room, if they dont already share one.

THAT'S RIGHT,MOST GAYS SWING LEFT

Letter writer Jon Rogers is 100% right we need to take back our freedoms.I have been fighting for 20 years to protect the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.Many cities controlled by Democrats are not allowing the old and poor the right to own firearms to defend their lives against criminals.The Democrats are in most states are not allowing the law abiding citizen the right to carry a firearm for self defense.The Democrats are trying to sue the gun manufactures out of business to drive the price of firearms up to where the working class will not be able to afford them.In cities with large Black populations the Democrats are banning the ownership of firearms.As we know the Founding Fathers wanted the citizens to be armed as a deterent to crime and oppressive government.Join the NRA and help "take back our freedoms".

Join the NRA.1-877-NRA-2000.Take your freedom back !!!

"What we need is leader that will do the right thing for EVERYONE, all the time." - Jon

The fact that you actually write this and quite possibly believe it is possible to attain shows that though your intentions and ideology are probably noble and well intentioned, you are hopelessly naive.

It is axiomatic that, in most cases, you can't help people from a position of weakness caused by your inability to help yourself. You can help people through your experience but, most people need more than moral support to get out of the economic swamp they are in, many times through no fault of their own.

If we are going to provide government help, these people should be primary point of that help. They are victims of social and market place changes, many of which are created by zealousness and fanantical people who think they know better how you should live your life than you do.

My and my wifes tavern is up to a 27% loss of profit now and it is only a question of time until this 35 years in the same family business will red line. We have worked hard, payed ever increasing taxes, provided people with jobs and helped them and others through hard times. We have been for years, for all intents and purposes, a neighborhood community center where people could come for information and help and somebody in the tavern would be the plumber, mechanic or the source of information they needed at a cost price or free, because it is a long standing tradition that if they were ever in need, the favor would be returned.

This is truely a real life world of people helping each other and enjoying each other's stories while playing pool or darts. Watching the Bronco games on Sunday where many bring side dishes and we and our bartenders provide the hot dogs or other main dishes. Our mom and pop neighborhood tavern and many more like it could become a thing of the past if something is not done to save them from extinction. And Yes, it is the smoking ban that is directly the cause as proven by statistics from the Colorado Department of Revenue state wide.

Now save your dirty, rotten, sleezeball, murdeous smokers comments for the people who don't have a clue what it takes, money wise and work wise, to run a bar or tavern successfully for over 35 years then have the government, with the stroke of a pen, destroy people's and their kid's lives, retirement plans and steal our future from us and the not well known trickle down damage done to other businesses that provide our businesses with the needed things to operate the place.

Reparations are rightly and justly due from the government that enacted a law that results in egregious damage to a sector of a trade. If this is not done, we will petition the government for redress of grievances under the first amendment and if that should fail because it is ignored we have already set in motion exploring legal remedies. Unlike those who do all their fighting with words, we are prepared to go to the ends of the earth to remedy our just and morally right cause.

I don't know whether to despise Keith or feel sorry for him; Keith is so limited in his vocabulary; it is a vocabulary I have been active in dissuading from being used so as never to compel the moderator to cancel this blog out of disgust.

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