This page was last updated on October 29, 2012.
Nation not based on biblical principles; Donald M. Gentzel; Beaver County Times; October 28, 2012.
This is at least the fourth letter from Mr. Gentzel since September 2011. The previous letters are here, here, and here.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“The ‘Obama going against God’ letter opened with ‘so you want four more years of Obama?’ Absolutely, with no reservation.”
[RWC] In his letter “Overpriced public unions,” Mr. Gentzel wrote, “… we cannot afford to allow overpriced union labor to dominate our public sector. We must balance our budgets -- federal, state and local. It is as simple as that, and it is as important as that.” If Mr. Gentzel was truthful in that letter, how could he “want four more years of Obama … with no reservation?” What did President Obama do to address any of these issues?
“President Obama has yet to completely clean up the economic mess created by the previous administration -- arguably the worst administration in U.S. history -- possibly because of the obstructionist Republican Congress. But the Romney/Ryan ticket is an insult to the American public. No thank you.”
[RWC] “The [Bush] administration -- arguably the worst administration in U.S. history?” Prove it. (I’m taking my lead from Mr. Gentzel’s letter “Prove it.”)
“Possibly because of the obstructionist Republican Congress?” Prove it.
“The Romney/Ryan ticket is an insult to the American public?” Prove it.
OK, enough fun at Mr. Gentzel’s expense.
Mr. Gentzel wrote of “the obstructionist Republican Congress.” President Obama had significant Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress for two years (2009-2010), including a period with a filibuster-proof Senate. As we saw with Obamacare, Republicans couldn’t stop anything Mr. Obama wanted even when not a single Republican voted for it. If something Mr. Gentzel wanted didn’t get passed during those two years, he can’t blame Republicans. Democrats remain the majority in the Senate. I have a different view. I see Mr. Obama and the Democrat-majority Senate as “obstructionist.”
Mr. Gentzel doesn’t tell us why he believes the “Romney/Ryan ticket is an insult to the American public.”
“As far as the letter writer’s assertion ‘our nation needs to return to the biblical principles on which it was established,’ this is utter nonsense. The foundation of our republic is the U.S. Constitution. And if I may be allowed to offer constructive criticism, it would be this, read the Constitution and then ask yourself if our nation was truly founded on ‘biblical principles.’”
[RWC] Neither Mr. Gentzel nor Thomas Joseph (the subject letter’s author) gave their definition of “biblical principles” so I’ll only note a few facts.
God appeared to play a major role in the lives of our Founding Fathers and God was mentioned frequently in founding documents. For example, the Declaration of Independence refers to “Nature’s God,” “[our] Creator,” and “the Supreme Judge of the world.”
Most (all?) of the Founding Fathers took their oaths of office with their hand on a Bible and began every session of Congress with a prayer. Except for 1855-1861, there’s been a Chaplain of the House since 1789. Likewise, the Senate has a chaplain. At the end of the chant beginning each Supreme Court session, the Marshal says, “God save the United States and this honorable court.” It would be difficult to believe the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers had no effect on “the foundation of our republic.”
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.