Dear Herald-News

I'm still waiting for the Joliet Herald-News to print my letter about last week's Presidential debate, but I'm willing to wait as long as they keep printing letters like this one, which ran in today's edition. Wow.

"This whole saga tells me that America has internal enemies that are just as venomous as our external foes. Wake up people, before we're destroyed!" So proclaims letter writer Susan Spreitzer in the Sept. 15 edition of The Herald News. Yes, this country is heading towards destruction, but not because of the homosexuality that the right wing religious extremists — our own American Taliban — rail against. It is because of the bigotry and outright hatred for their fellow citizens that comes so easily to those that anoint themselves as the moral arbiters of our country. If left to their own devices, make no mistake that these same self-righteous, moralistic cretins would gladly escort these "internal enemies" to gas chambers in a manner that would make Hitler proud. We are living in a country where the Constitution is fast becoming nothing more than glorified toilet paper. If you choose a lifestyle not approved by our American Taliban, that document doesn't apply to you. If you voice dissent regarding the incompetent actions of our Commander-in-Chief, you are an enemy of the state and a terrorist supporter. That thing about free speech? Sorry, only applies to those who blindly agree and acquiesce to those in control of the United States of Fear and Hate.

When the right wing starts pointing fingers at their fellow citizens and calling them "enemies," indeed, it is time to wake up. Because if we don't, we'll someday wake up to a totalitarian, fascistic country that used to be the beacon of freedom to the rest of the world.

Kevin B. Carter
New Lenox