This is Viewpoints for Thursday, September 7, 2017

Moderates speak up

We have invested a great deal of money and time into these young people to be evicting them. We need them as much as they need us. As long as they abide by our laws they should remain and be given a path to citizenship.

Many of these do not speak very much Spanish and would have nowhere to go in what we would consider their “home country.” Just educating them from kindergarten through high school would have cost close to $100,000. Why would any thinking person want to throw this investment away?

Some people only understand dollars and cents but let’s add this onto doing what is a good and honorable action to take. A vast majority of Southerners claim to be “Christian.” If we are going to put our religion into action of loving others it is imperative that we let our senators and congressmen know where we stand.

Lets show the world how Americans can love one another regardless of their nationality or skin color or language. We need to be concentrating on getting the convicted felons who are illegals out of our country.

I believe we have plenty of jobs for everyone of the Dreamers along with our natural born citizens. We just need to get our young people educated to fill the good jobs that exist. It seems the only people being heard today are either liberals or ultra conservatives. I consider myself a moderate along with most of our population.

In most elections we have to vote for the least of the evil not for someone we truly agree with and support. Moderates, let your voices be heard.

The real meaning

Bob Carnot seems to have fallen into the contemporary pit that words do not really mean what they say, they only mean what we fell they say. My cumbersome Webster’s unabridged describes a synonym as “taxonomic name rejected as being incorrectly applied or incorrect in form” among others. In other words, it is not the meaning of the word as defined, but is what others not involved with the language feel that it means.

It also defines “nationalism” as “loyalty and devotion to a nation, a sense of national consciousness, exalting one nation over all others, and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations,” and it is to that definition I adhere, and to which I took an oath when I entered the military many years ago. Did Carnot take this oath?

Carnot, thank you for the English lesson. It was interesting, but unfortunately, filled with feelings, which do not define this country. If you don’t have loyalty and devotion to the United States of America, perhaps you should consider finding a place where you can be loyal and devoted.

Means what it says?

Not only does Jim Costello and I disagree on whether or not the U.S. Constitution is a “living” document, we apparently do not even agree on what the term “living document” is. In his letter rebutting my opinion, he points out several aspects of the Constitution with which we both agree completely.

I won’t go into the details here, but he points out several features of the Constitution which are self evident, and I’m not sure what his point is.

The problem is the left wing-nuts who use the term “living document” mean the Constitution doesn’t mean what it says, it means whatever the Supreme Court says it means.

I know it sounds like nit-picking, but the difference in the two views is huge. I still maintain that it means what it says, not what some lifetime tenured, out of touch with reality federal judge, says it means.

The final answer?

“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

Those are not my words — they are chiseled into the wall of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. They are the words of Thomas Jefferson and clearly show that he understood that “laws and constitutions” are living things that “keep pace with the times.”

Jerry Norris’ snarky response assumes that the intentions of a writer are absolute and permanent, whereas Jim Costello’s considered response illustrates that Jefferson was correct. Not only has the Constitution been altered through amendments but the dynamics of an ever-changing world demand that an ongoing best effort be made to apply it as intended.

We may not always agree with decisions of the Supreme Court, but they are carefully deliberated and justified. A thorough reading of those opinions rather than relying upon Fox News sound bites may help to understand why decisions were made. Jefferson’s wisdom continues to endure.

I would like to respond to gentleman from Warner Robins, and thank him for his kind words, but the name change is out the question. Born as Lee, with Daniel Edward, has served me well for 74 years, so I’ll keep it.

If the name Lee offends someone that’s OK, but let me make it clear that my family had nothing to do with slavery. In fact two of my great uncles fought for the North and two for the South. “Slavery bull” was for what grandpa fought the Brits for, our independence under one flag.

This division in family gave birth to a township known today as Dixie Union, north of Waycross on US 1. Just because Gen. Lee fought in gray, he fought for Virginia against the invasion by the north blockade of southern commerce, while my grandfather worked his tobacco and cotton field shipping the harvest to Savannah by mule some 108 miles away, white labor only.

My advice is let us read and understand history for the truth before it is too late to turn around and stop this nonsense.

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Thursday, September 7, 2017."