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Here is my OPEN LETTER in response to Howard Rich, Chairman, Americans for Limited Government Foundation:
Dear Howie,
Thanks for your time-sensitive, expedited letter, undated. Let me call you Howie since you have my home address, something only my friends and business associates have, and since there are almost four million internet entries about you, many of which refer to you as Howie. Do you like being called Howie? Probably as much as I like to get threatening letters from people such as you. I'm sure you really don't know anything about me, let alone my political leanings. How is it then that you have my name and address and threaten to "publicize my involvement in leftist organizations in my local community?"
Let me tell you about my local community. I live and work in Hollywood, where if you publicize someone's involvement with the Left, a thunderous yawn will likely arise over the basin. Unlike you, people out here don't care what organizations a person belongs to. You must have gotten my name as a result of sloppy work by a lazy hired hand because in my case, you got the wrong guy. I wonder how many of the other 11,000 or more identical letters you sent went to people you've wrongly identified as "belonging to the radical agenda of the left."
You see, I'm not a member of any political organization - left, right or center. I gave a donation to Barack Obama, but not to any PAC's or any other candidates. I once gave a donation to our local Sheriff, but I have no idea what party he belongs to. I am a member of two prominent social clubs, both of which could be called conservative. You might enjoy them as much as I do. So what am I doing in your database?
As I mentioned, there are almost four million internet entries that reference you and your organization. Some of them refer to you as a "wealthy, New York developer." Like a lot of stuff that gets written about people, one can't always verify the truth, but here are a few random entries: a posting by a Robert W. Dalton claims you're "one of the most despised figures in South Carolina politics." Mr. Dalton's posting goes on to quote the Spartanburg (SC) Democratic Chairman who calls you "A disaster waiting to happen." The Democratic Public Information Officer for the Union County Schools in South Carolina says you're "pouring money into candidates who are willing to sell their souls to get elected."
On the other hand, prominent Republicans like the State GOP Party Chairman, the Spartanburg GOP County Chairman, and Governor Mark Sandford (R) have nothing but good things to say about you. It seems the dispute along party lines is over your desire to create a private school system funded by taxpayers. You seem to be a big spender and you put your money behind your beliefs. Nothing wrong with that, nothing that should cause anyone to send you a threatening letter. But again at random, a website called STOP BALLOT FRAUD says you "subsidize voter fraud." By the way, nice picture of you on that website.
Surely my small donation to the Democratic candidate for President can't be what offends you, so I invite you to lay out publicly exactly what it is you consider to be my radical agenda. I'm sharing this note with the public because it demands wider circulation. What you're expediting is Un-American. False accusations. Threats. Attempts to suppress speech. As Joseph Welch, long ago lamented to Senator Joe McCarthy, "Sir, have you no shame?"
Sincerely,
William FriedkinP. S. Enclosed is a letter to you from my lawyer, Eric George, sent by regular mail.
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Here's a message to those far-right intimidators:
We've got more on our minds than to let you bully, us, the American public. The economy trumps your witch hunts.
We believe in the American constitution and The Bill of Rights; we will not be persecuted because of our beliefs or associations. Americans recognize that McCarthism was /is wrong.
Americans are patriotic even when they are liberal, conservative, Christian, Jewish, Muslim (or any other religion). You don't own God, Country, or anything else you think will convince the undereducated, underpaid Joes who vote against their own self interests to keep people like you in power.
WE ARE NOT GOING TO PUT UP WITH THE FAR RIGHT AGENDA ANY LONGER. It is anti-choice, anti-science and ANTI-AMERICAN.
We will oppose your continued efforts to make the income gap wider and wider in your favor. It's not that we are socialists, it is that we don't think you really "earn" your disproportionate wealth. The mortgage meltdown and the resulting credit freeze happened because greed became unbridled with deregulation.
THE FAR-RIGHT HAS BECOME DRUNK FROM POWER AND GREED; NOW IS TIME FOR THE PAINFUL TASK OF SOBERING-UP.
Now, leave us alone, we've got important business to tend to.
It does.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
God save the poison antidotes. The noxious specter of McCarthyism has reared its ugly head once again.
Like on the TV series "Mad Men," they become better at expressing their true selves, ableit in code-word form. As in "Cadillac-driving welfare queen," "law and order," and "he's not one of us."
Pathetic, isn't it.
I am a PROUD and unabashed supporter of the "LEFT agenda". That agenda embraces all people as equals who deserve equal rights and equal opportunities. It is an agenda of compassion and fairness, the agenda of Social Security and Civil Rights. It is an agenda that supports the middle class as the heart and soul of America,as opposed to pandering to the insatiable greed of (some of)the wealthy. It is the agenda of diplomacy before aggression that so respects and supports our troops as to never put them in harms way without real and verifiable cause. It is an agenda of justice and fairness and hope.
You see, Howie, the terms "left" and "liberal" are not something to be ashamed of at all, as you and your fellow neocons have worked so hard to make them. We on the LEFT, American Progressives, are taking back God and the flag, and we are taking back our country.
I'll be looking for your letter, Howie, so I can send it to scores of local and state newspapers as well as radio and TV shows.
The answer to your last question is, unfortunately "yes". As someone who has protested Bush and the right wing neocons for some years, I have little doubt that my name is in some databases also. It has not been uncommon to be called unpatriotic, un-American, etc, etc.
I have Obama stickers on my car, and a few days ago, a McCain support put an obscene bumper sticker on my back window. We are seeing the consequences of both the subtle and the blatant "you are with me or you are against me" mentality of the past 8+ years.
In many ways, this election is about more than a change in governance style. It is about a change in attitudes, including respect for people and points of view that are different. It is about understanding that all Americans matter, not just those who agree with us. It is about honoring the Constitution and our laws. I long to again see an America that is, legitimately a moral compass in the world.
Franklin Roosevelt said it better than I can: "It is a good thing to demand liberty for ourselves and for those who agree with us, but it is a better thing and a rarer thing to give liberty to others who do not agree with us".