I have (or had?) two very Christian, conservative (Republican) friends. One out of state, the other in San Diego. Thus our primary means of communication is e-mail. One has stopped all communication with me. The other, for lack of a better term, has turned condescending or benignly tolerant. Meanwhile, a very Catholic cousin (in Arizona) has refused to exchange one e-mail on the subject.

I see them as being very symptomatic of the middle America, agrarian and/or Southern states that staunchly support Bush. Damn the torpedoes or reason or logic or anything. He is a Christian! And that seems to be the end of it. Discussion over. That is what we are fighting. And to fight that kind of thinking is to be a heathen or a liberal California nut, etc.

I am frustrated and angry and have often been amazed and awed. Point by individual point, there is no meaningful response to the specific issuses, re: Iraq, the economy, etc. But because Bush and the GOP have claimed religion, excuse me - "Christianity," I presume those folks believe he is on God's side and, thus, must be retained. It is awesome, but more significantly, it is frightening.

This is one ultra important reason Thomas Jefferson very clearly separated church and state in Virginia and then in the Constitution. But these people see only the heathen judges and media as the cause for taking religion and morality away from us.

Sorry to rant like this, but I'm feeling so Damned angry! I don't find anything in the Seniors for America or the Democratic party or Anywhere - that has any response, much less an effective response, to this twisted thinking. I fear our society is not all that much different from the fundamentalist Muslim dominated countries. I also fear that the kind of politics currently practiced by the GOP is destroying or has destroyed the kind of Democracy we'd like to think we have in this country.

Thanks for reading this.
Wayne Gonzalez
San Jose