National security is more than military might

To the editor: As our national security is increasingly threatened, so is our democracy. With the Bush administration’s devoutly linear approach to security our military is stressed economically, physically, and emotionally. While we are fighting a war premised on untruths, we do not have the means to protect our ports and borders. The National Guard is serving in the Middle East, while U.S. Citizens are left helpless in the face of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. We are deeply in debt to China. We are overly dependant on foreign oil. With personal and extreme religious convictions influencing our legislators, the separation of church and state has been breached. Our society has become so violent that U.S. citizens are afraid to send their children to school. The United States and its citizens must focus on rebuilding that which has defined our nation. We need good jobs here at home to support the middle class. It is the rise of the middle class that made our country strong and prosperous. We need to take care of our elderly who have contributed greatly to our society, assuring them financial and medical security. We must empower our youth with a solid first-class education. We must protect our planet by taking seriously the hundreds of reports by prominent scientists on the threat of global warming. The survival of our earth should not be politicized. It is the right of all people to breath clean air and drink clean water. Our government was designed with a system of checks and balances to preserve its strengths and freedoms. While we fight a futile war in Iraq, those strengths and freedoms are being threatened right here at home. I support John Hall for Congress as he sees the desperate need to address our national security with more than just military might. Ashley Blackwood-Russo Warwick