Only in America

For my birthday I got the book "11/22/63" by Stephen King from a good friend. I am loving this book. As my friend Andy pointed out, it is continually amazing that Mr. King could write something so fresh and gravitating after writing so many books over the years. But that is not really what I intend to write about... This book deals with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It deals more precisely with Lee Harvey Oswald. This caused me to do some research and something struck me hard tonight in my studies. It has to do with Marina Oswald Porter. In my studies, she is rapidly becoming one of my heroes. But only in America could that be the case. This woman was the wife of Kennedy's killer, and she was a Russian woman who spoke little English in a country that was barely past the red scare of the 50's. And yet, she was protected (yes, I realize that this was mostly for her testimony) and her voice was heard and she was not persecuted, she was released to live her life. And live her life she did. She found a good man and remarried and raised her two daughters and a son to be good, productive people. I do not believe that the wife of the assassin of a beloved leader would have had such opportunities in any other nation. She did not get a wholly free ride, she was watched for many years, but she was essentially allowed to live her life and became a naturalized American citizen. The question must be asked, is that America still available today? What do you think? I would like to get some feedback and then I will write a follow-up post.

Article VI, Paragraph 3 of the US Constitution includes these words, "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

I am sick and tired of hearing about religion as we get deeper into this election process. I have been sick and tired of it in past elections as well, but this time it is especially virulent. Patrick Henry stated the following:

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."

Patrick Henry and I do not always see eye to eye, but on this one, I agree with him wholly. This nation was founded upon certain very basic freedoms and upon Natural Law and if you have even a small bit of understanding of this (and all Americans should) then you realize that we need to work to uphold and sustain these freedoms and laws and stop choosing to define people, leaders and candidates in a manner contrary to the Constitutional foundations we cherish.