LETTER: Time to think outside politics

Editor,

I love to read letters to the editor having to do with politics. I love to see people judge the Iraq War by hindsight. “Well, we should have done this” or “We should have done that.” We complain of these problems, but what is each of us doing for a solution? The fact is I still haven’t heard an optimistic comment about Iraq from many Democrats. When was the last time you wrote a letter to a soldier instead of the editor? When was the last time you volunteered for a non-profit organization to help a family of a soldier? When was the last time you donated to charity in the name of freedom?

According to Margaret Warner of PBS, there was roughly a 60 percent voter turnout recently in the Iraqi elections. This is amazing. As I watched the old and the young courageously go to the polls over the weekend I realized how special America is. We live in freedom and we take it for granted. Their voter turnout was nearly the same as the 2004 elections in the United States. This tells me Iraqi citizens are as dedicated to freedom as Americans. Ask the 60 percent of Iraqis who voted over the weekend about the war in their backyards and streets. Do you think they lost innocent loved ones, perhaps? Obviously this battle was worth it to them.

The soldiers have bravely fought for our freedoms and are now fighting for other’s freedoms. They are heroes to Iraqis and Americans. It is time we think outside our political views and look at the big picture; beyond Saddam, beyond Bush, beyond Michael Moore and Sean Hannity, over the weekend freedom rang. Don’t let political viewpoints ruin the accomplishments.

I am proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget the men who died who gave this right to me and I gladly stand up next to you and defend Her still today, cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA.

Dustin Merritt