Letter: A spit in the face

Published 12:15 am Saturday, June 19, 2021

After recent actions in Congress, way too many of those elected officials proved a few things.

First and foremost is that we need mandatory service of some form, such as an 18-month program that is connected to graduating from high school and a way to earn an American citizenship. A place where every individual is taught the basics of self-defense, personal finance and the more difficult self-respect.

We, as a society, are responsible for having our own citizens not knowing who or why the faces on our currency are on our currency. As an American, that embarrasses me.

Another thing our Congress proved, again, is the fact that this young country, “in order to form a more perfect union,” needs term limits. Humans have proved over and over we need limits. We need deadlines. A time limit to get things done.

Why are almost all elected seats of any office not having time limits? If absolute power corrupts absolutely, why don’t we hold our elected officials to that ideology?

But what gives me knots in my belly and a lump in my throat is the slave-owner mentality of those same elected officials. As a veteran who has stood against tyranny his whole life, those officials spit in my face. They are making a mockery of what thousands, no millions have died for, or spent their lives trying to uphold: the Pledge of Allegiance.

TROY J. HASKELL

Astoria