I will be 70 next week. In lookin back on those years I recall being a child during blackouts in L.A. in the 40's; In the 50's young men I went to high school with were dying in Korea; Jack Kennedy gave me hope and pride, Johnson gave us lies about Viet Nam and civil liberties at home; Nixon gave us shame and sorrow; Ford did his best; Mr. Carter gave us humanity and sadly little else;

Reagan gave us a Big Daddy to look up to and an even bigger debt to overcome; Bush senior gave us a shaky economy and a failed military plan for Iraq; Clinton gave us joy and prosperity and more heartbreak from stupidity; and now, George W. has possibly given us the end of society as we know it. As a small girl I was told by my parents that there was God, Jesus Christ and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This country pulled together as never before when we were forced into a world war; too bad we don't have a leader such as F.D.R. As a mother and a grandmother I would feel so much more confidante about our country's future if we could pull together once again.
American woman's letter to the editor

F.D.R. had the experience and wisdom to unite and lead rather than divide and bully. How many many persons experienced those war years as a rare time of national purpose and unity. How will we remember this time? Do Iraqi and Islamic terrorism compare with Fascist Germany and Japan and the Communist Soviet Union? Why is the Administration's present response so self-righteous, oversimplified and uninspiring?

Perhaps we get what we deserve. Our national moral intelligence is diminished. We have somehow fixated on 9/11 and are afraid to be vulnerable again. This pre-emptive war is a new declaration-- not of independence-- but of rage. And power.

We may move over the precipice in the next week. God, help us to avoid a massive cycle of terror, reactive violence, repression and recession in the coming decade...
MGranzen