Dear "Birthers"

Right, so I've been in the hospital for the last four days, so I've got nothing on morality in foreign policy.  As I flush the last of the Oxycodone from my system, I've decided to give myself a topic that should be easy and fun, even on drugs.


Dear 'Birthers',

Go away.

I would like to say that I get it, but honestly, I don't.  I do understand that, according to the Constitution, any candidate for United States Office must be born in the United States.  It's not my favorite part of the Constitution, but I understand the motivation behind it: we don't want to elect someone to our nation's top governmental position who holds a secret or open alliance to another nation above our own.

I also understand that there has been some question about whether President Barack Obama's birth certificate is real or not.  Is it a forgery?  Was he really born in Kenya?  I don't know.  Also?  I don't care.

I'm not a huge fan of President Obama.  I think there are a lot of serious criticisms that can be leveled against the man based on his foreign and domestic policy.  Obama's vision for America's domestic policies involves a lot more handouts than I'm comfortable with (along with every president since Coolidge), and I think America ought to have a dialogue about that.  Obama's vision for America's foreign policy bothers me too, and it's important to discuss the implications of things like the Libya conflict, and whether Obama has handled our two other foreign wars well.  Has Obama's oil policy made things better or worse?  What about the effects of his policies on our insane national deficit?

These are big and serious questions.  But you're wasting valuable newsprint space and valuable space in the public's mind, trying to convince them that Obama was born in Kenya.  It's not an important issue.  With all these major problems facing our nation, and no example of a way Mr. Obama's possibly Kenyan roots have interfered with his ability to run this nation, why are you focusing on this?  Is it because you believe that the American heartland is too stupid to seriously consider the complex issues above, but might respond well to some good old-fashioned xenophobic sound-bites?

If that's true, we deserve a whole lot worse than President Obama--and we'll get it, too.

I don't believe that has to be true.  It's certainly true that the public has been treated like idiots for years.  We've inundated them with sound-bites just like this one.  Ever since FDR, there has been a concerted effort to convince the American people that a large proportion of America simply cannot survive without Government help.  Our education system is in serious trouble.  And the fact that barely half of United States citizens historically vote in national elections illustrates either indifference or hopelessness on the part of a significant portion of our society.  But a republic cannot survive with a crippled citizenry.  Our system of government depends on an intellectual, active society who can adequately process the complex issues facing our country, and come to conclusions based on facts as opposed to sound-bites.

I believe that the vast majority of people willing to voice their opinions on local and national issues do so because they genuinely want to make things better, Birthers included.  But you are not helping.  You're actively contributing to America's sound-bite culture where domestic and foreign policy is decided based on which side can come up with the cutest attack.  Maybe it'll pay off for you today.  But we're all going to lose in the end if this keeps up.

So please, Birthers.  Go away.  Make room for those of us who care about the actual issues.  You're hurting America.

Sincerely,
-Laura

P.S.  Donald Trump, I'm not going to write you an entire letter because I don't think your ego needs any help, but since you're now included in this 'birther' phenomenon and are of course reading this, could you please just go back to making capitalism look like a joke, as opposed to tracking your bombastic, self-promoting arrogance into the realm of political ideas?  I'm willing to negotiate a price--I've got a whole change jar filled with quarters, or maybe I can find some hot supermodels for you to marry or something.  Call me.