Letter to the editor: Are We Still Free?

By Phillip W. Smith, Oklahoma City - 11/6/2009


America you must not become a nation that passively supports a president who targets news networks, trade associations, or private individuals' income, as in the case of President Obama's current attacks of Fox News, the United States Chamber of Commerce, and Wall Street executives.

It does not matter if you care for, like, or agree with Fox News, the Chamber, or even Wall Street, if we the people silently watch the political class attack, marginalize, and threaten them; it will only be a short while before they do so to the rest of us. If the freedoms of speech, assembly, and private property can be limited for a "politically incorrect" few, then how much longer before you and I, the average Americans, will live in permanent fear of losing those same freedoms by daring to speak out? Or shall we all end up going quietly into slavery to our elected masters? No matter if you are a liberal, conservative, or moderate you should all be gravely concerned with the current behavior of our nation's chief executive towards private individuals, associations, and companies. Finally, is America becoming a nation where fear, intimidation, bribes, and corruption become the standard? If so, we are no longer free.



This letter was published exclusively online.

The Tulsa World publishes as many letters as possible within its standards and space limitations. The newspaper receives many more letters than it can publish. To help accommodate that surplus some letters are published online only. Letters that can't be edited below the 250-word limit on printed letters or that are written by an author who has published a letter in the past 30 days are often used online only. The newspaper also emphasizes local topics in printed letters. Letters addressing national or international events are often used online.


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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Angry Citizen!, Bluejacket (11/6/2009 8:36:07 AM)
This letter is nonsense! Look at the billions and billions of dollars the POTUS has given to help good old main street folks trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps- Despite the chatter, the US is doing pretty good! Give them a few more liberties with our money and they will be able to control the weather, cure the common cold and achieve world peace.

Angry Citizen!, Bluejacket (11/6/2009 11:52:43 AM)
redstate said: "The writer seems to be confused, because it is the Wall Street Journal, The Camber of Commerce and, yes, Fox news, who are all threatening the freedom of average Americans" Those entities can be ignored, the feds on the other hand pass laws and will put you in prison if you ignore them. Your definition of "emminent domain" isn't even close.

Woofenburger, Hominy (11/6/2009 10:08:56 PM)
So you believe that others should turn the other cheek but you aren't willing to do the same? Shame on you Phillip.

fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (11/6/2009 8:43:35 AM)
Great letter, Mr. Smith. Unfortunately, not one liberal in ten will have the intellect to understand it. If we are unable to stop the pendulum, the day will come soon when a similarly egocentric and power-hungry President of a different political stripe will try to disband the unions, limit what they can pay their leadership, and villify MSNBC as the left-wing propagandist it is. When he (or she) tries to end tenure for publicly funded colleges and replace the left-wing liberals who are incapable of supporting themselves anywhere besides the public trough; when he cuts off funding to Planned Parenthood and ACORN and instead funds Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and 4H, only then will you be able to explain to them what their leader has done. You will have to re-educate them and remind them of history, as liberals lack the capacity to remember what happened last week, let alone learn from it.

droopy, wagoner (11/6/2009 6:26:22 AM)
It would be hard to disagree with you Mr.Smith. Good letter

Moses, Jenks (11/7/2009 1:46:45 AM)
Great letter Mr. Smith. Couldn't have said it better myself!! Thanks

Billo, (11/7/2009 1:51:30 AM)
"Finally, is America becoming a nation where fear, intimidation, bribes, and corruption become the standard? If so, we are no longer free." Bush's first Secretary of Homeland Security pick just got convicted for bribery -- taking a quarter-million dollar home renovation from known mobsters, failing to pay the taxes on the home improvement, and lying about his mob connections. Bernard Kerik would have been in charge of the most powerful government agency in the USA, if Fox News had its way. He sure as h is no longer free like us. A lot of oddball, radical, anti-government groups whine about being excluded from civil discourse in this nation. Fox News, which speaks for a hodgepodge of racists, fascists and bigots, should try to get used to being put in its place. America does not "passively" support Obama for shunning Fox News. America cheers him wildly in that effort. Name any objective news organization that sponsors, organizes and provides training for uncivil disruptions of public appearances of our elected government officials. Hey, the clock's running, but we have all the time in the world. You'll be dead and gone before you supply an answer. You can stack ten years of the major news organizations' overstatements, misstatements and misrepresentations -- combined -- and they won't equal the outright lies contained in one month of Fox News propaganda. Fox News recently ran this headline, citing an AP story as its source: "Obama Triples Budget Deficit to $1.4 Trillion." In fact, AP stated that $1.2 trillion of the CBO projected deficit came from pre-Obama spending. I understand that, and so does Fox, but Fox lied about it. Fox News recently cited a Pew poll which Fox claimed proves that a near-equal number of Republicans and Democrats watch Fox News. But the poll cited was very old. More recent Pew polls shows that Republican Fox viewers outnumber Democrats by more than 3-to-1. Fox, like other broadcasters, no doubt subscribes to Pew's polling data, but they chose to mislead -- lie to -- their viewers about the makeup of their viewership. A full-page Fox newspaper ad claimed that no other network covered its recent, self-generated "9/12" Obama protests. In fact, all networks covered it in detail. It was the lead story on CBS News. Fox lied. Again. Fox News lies so often and so blatantly that trying to convince its obedient, ignorant parrots that Fox lies is wasted energy. If they don't know by now, they are too stupid to learn. Just enter "Fox news lies" in Google or any other search engine and learn how unfair and unbalanced -- both journalistically and mentally -- Fox News really is. Bravo, Obama. Despite the best efforts of Fox News, 2+2 does not equal 5.

Alan Shore, (11/6/2009 6:31:27 AM)
Fox is not news, but the media division of the Republican Party. It promotes political rallies like a corporate communicatiuons department.

Hijinx, (11/6/2009 6:31:26 AM)
Fear, intimidation, bribes, and corruption became, and still is, the standard of the GOP for the previous 8 years so get off your soapbox Phillip. Your at least 7 yrs late with your suddenly new found concern with your freedoms and rights.

psychedelikrelik, Tulsa (11/6/2009 9:06:34 AM)
There is one "capacity" that fredsdad has that liberals lack. The ability to lick his own .

Hobbs, Loveland, Co (11/6/2009 6:56:00 AM)
Philip...if Fox, the Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street Journal were not telling lies, half truths and trying to influence public opinion with those lies....then yeah, you fight back...he didn't start the attacks. BTW Fox is not a news organization. I'ts a arm of the hard core right wing republican party. If I called you a Nazi, Communist, and liar would you defend your self if it was not true? Pathetic letter!

Hobbs, Loveland, Co (11/6/2009 8:34:52 AM)
Markg...Yawn...Do you just take some of your old posts and copy and paste them to new letters? Every now and then, could you try to be a little creative with your false drivel.

dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (11/6/2009 7:34:26 AM)
YAWN..excuse me....when Clinton was president not a day went by that the right wingers didn't scream from the rooftops that he would declare Martial law "any day now" and turn America into a dictatorship. Well? The closest this country has ever been in the past 60 years was GW Bush fronting and Dick Cheney actually running this country as a black shirt Gestapo. We survived that (barely). We'll certainly survive Obama. BTW? You right wing extremists need to get a new spiel. You're starting to sound like the Taliban.

Dr. Strangelove, Tulsa (11/6/2009 7:16:51 AM)
Phil- last I checked, Wall Street Executives are doing pretty good, I would check them off your list.

Willard_Roker, (11/6/2009 7:22:05 AM)
Yes we are! The fascist right-winger took their shot but were unable to turn the US into a Christian theocracy. Despite the Bush administration, we are still free and getting freer by the day. It's a new dawn.

MarkG, Broken Arrow (11/6/2009 7:58:08 AM)
Great letter Phillip! Unfortunately, the liberal socialist lapdogs as represented by some of the posters in this room do not care about the freedom or liberty of others. They are bent on liberal socialist ideology and all too willing to surrender their liberty and yours and mine too. These liberals poisoned by their polluted ideological socialist kool-aid should be condemned, shunned, shamed and avoided at all cost.

Bison3, Tulsa (11/6/2009 8:40:28 AM)
Poor, poor persecuted Republicans!!! Alway in fear of the "boogie man". That scary Obama's gonna take their freedoms away. Well where were you guys when the Bush administration was secretly wiretapping phone lines and torturing people? Cheering them on no doubt. If you Republicans are upset because you're no longer in power, I'd suggest that next time YOU DO SOMETHING RIGHT!!!! Maybe then you will have more people vote for you.

Bison3, Tulsa (11/6/2009 9:00:47 AM)
Fredsdad: I think that you've forgotten some thinkgs yourself, like the last 8 years under the Bush administration!!! It's not that Liberals can not understand it, it's that Liberals are too smart to fall for it!!

Bison3, Tulsa (11/6/2009 1:07:51 PM)
Mr. Smith: To answer your question, yes we are free and getting more free by the day!!! If you want to see a day when freedom was in jepodary, think back to when our right to assemble was trampled on by the Bush administration when he wanted to have protesters removed from his route to a speech. Also, as I mentioned before, remember when illegal wiretapping was in vogue and the Bush administration was also condoning torture in the name of national security. The current administration is overturning those practices and getting us back to what our founding fathers would have wanted for us. You talk about people living in fear. Fear is how the Bush administration kept their job for 8 years by telling us that there was a terrorist around every corner. President Obama wants serious journalists present at his news conferences and Fox "News" does not fit that description so how is that taking away our freedom? If the military shows up on your doorstep because you wrote this letter, then I'd worry. If not, then YOU ARE FREE!!!! And to those posters here that say "we want our country back", President Obama is giving it back to you, one act at a time!!!

J C OK, Tulsa County (11/6/2009 7:44:39 PM)
THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS.....You are correct.

TheChef, Tulsa (11/7/2009 4:31:55 PM)
Wher were you for the last 40 years when the Republicans were marginalizing labor, anyone whose religious views that weren't inline with the far right wing, the news media in general and the New york Times & CBS specifically. Boy you right wingers really cry hard & loud when the shoe grets put on the other foot. This letter is definately the best example of the kettle calling the pot black I have ever seen. GROW UP!!!!!!!!!!!

TonyQ, Tulsa (11/6/2009 10:38:16 AM)
In a sane world people would be aiming their pitchforks at the Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street, and FOX news--all defenders of corporate rule. Instead the latter has a minority of people directing their rage at phantom evils, i.e., Democrats and liberals whose main goal is to return this country to democracy rather than plutocracy.

redstatefeminist, Broken Arrow (11/6/2009 11:35:10 AM)
The writer seems to be confused, because it is the Wall Street Journal, The Camber of Commerce and, yes, Fox news, who are all threatening the freedom of average Americans, by trying to dictate whether or not we Americans will have access to fair, affordable healthcare.The Wall Street Journal and Chamber of Commerce are blanketing the airways with commercials telling people to call their Senators to vote no on healthcare reform lelegislation. And let's not forget, the Right-dominated Supreme Court has already upheld the right of emminent domain allowing the government to take private property from average Americans, for the purpose of giving it away to big business, if it is felt that such seizure and transfer of ownership, will benefit the community at large. You've identified the wrong willan to be fearful off. It's not the President, it's those he is villifying, that you need to fear, because it is they who are trying to control your lives.

lizzy, Tulsa (11/6/2009 9:52:49 AM)
Yes, pity the poor Wall Street executives, enriching themselves by taking ridiculous risks with OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY.



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