We've lost our freedoms

Dear editor:

I am 73 years old with a goal to live to be 100 since I was 10 years old. With the mess this country is in I'm only about 60 percent sure I was to be 100 years old.

It was a good goal to be 100 years old in the Land of Freedom. However, we have lost so many freedoms that I'm not sure I want to be around another 27 years. Our country, as we think we know it, thanks to the do-gooders, politicians, religious nuts, vegetarians, global warming nuts, etc., may not be around in 2036!

I feel sorry for my kids and grand kids.

Mr. Everitt, in the Jan. 6, 2010, issue of the Mountain Home News, you wrote about the "smoking" issue. I have smoked cigarettes for over 52 years. I quit three times (cold turkey), once in 1967 for 13 months, once in 1973 for three months, and once in April 2009 for 75 days.

Unfortunately I like smoking and it doesn't take much of an excuse to start again. I now have COPD from smoking and may not live to be 100. However, that is my choice (freedom) and I cannot blame the smoking environment that I've lived in since birth. I do blame the do-gooders and politicians for the lack of places that I can smoke legally.

My wife has been in hospitals five times in seven years. I can't smoke (even in my car on any hospital grounds. My home is three doors from the Elmore County Medical Center. Sooner or later, I expect the hospital to extend their "no smoking zone" for at least a block (like the no guns zone) and my in-home freedom is lost.

I paid all my working life, 47 years, into Social Security and this year we on Social Security will not get a cost of living raise. Politicians have, and will, continue to take Social Security money for their pet projects yet we elders do not get a raise? Freedom?

Seat belts and cell phones: I could recall an accident (1967) that convinced me to always wear my seat belt and I do not talk on a cell phone while driving. Although I personally think driving without a seatbelt, talking on a cell phone, putting on makeup, etc., is stupid, I don't advocate a law against it. It's another freedom going down the drain! However, if an accident happens that can be blamed on a lack of seatbelts, cell phone use, etc., there should be stiff penalties for the offending driver.

Illegal immigration: We should use our (U.S.) National Guards to help patrol our borders. Those caught should be immediately returned to their country. Those caught a second time should be jailed for at least two years and returned! All known illegal immigrants should be rounded up and sent back to their country. There should be no amnesty, no medical care, no education, no Social Security, no nothing!

They broke our law! If I broke the law (felony) I would be jailed and I would lose my military retirement funds and probably my Social Security! This is freedom? I go to jail and the illegals get paid, etc.!

I believe in guns for protection, hunting, and ranges, regardless of the reading, pro or con, on the Second Amendment! Though I'm not one, collectors of guns should be free to do so. I have a concealed carry permit plus shotguns and rifles in my home (burglars beware).

I recently went to Florida but could not take a handgun with me because I passed through states that do not allow concealed weapons permits and/or do not recognize Idaho's permits. Concealed weapon permits, legally granted, should be recognized by all states just like the drivers license!

What if I had been confronted by an armed car thief, etc., while at a gas station? I don't live in Canada, Great Britain, Japan or Australia. Do-gooders and anti-gunners leave my guns alone. If they don't that's another freedom lost!

If your representative and/or Congressman don't vote for issues you favor, remember this. They are government employees! The same government, regardless of political party, who got us into Iraq and Afghanistan and before that Vietnam!

Why? Money, money, money! Not communism, not big weapons, not terrorists, but money!

We got our butts kicked in Vietnam. Why? The greatest, richest (we used to be) nation on Earth couldn't beat the Commies. Why? Fear of war with China? Politics? Money!

We found no weapons of mass destruction and no terrorists in Afghanistan. Why are we there? Money!

Do we need to rebuild Iran? Why? Money!

Russia couldn't lick Afghanistan for the money and manpower they would have to expend. Didn't we learn anything?

Oh, yes. Our contractors, in Iraq and Afghanistan, are making millions, thanks to our government riddled with PACs, bribes, etc.

Also, thanks to the current administration's bailouts, we will pay for all of it! If we don't pay for it the government will print more money. Inflation, loss of dollar value, will be rampant. You thought 2008/2009 was bad? Wait a while! Freedom?

I could go on and on about freedoms we have lost but this is supposed to be a letter, not a book!

At 10 years old these problems did not exist, at least in my young mind. I was optimistic, we had just won World War Two and I wanted to see all the inventions, etc., that would improve our lives, country, and the world. Now I'm not so sure that I want to live to 100.

-- Pen Bidwell