Cowardly tactics won’t dissuade staunch Democrat

Dear Editor:

Delta County appears to abound with those who consider themselves constitutional experts and especially the "freedom of speech" clause. However, when comes the time to actually practice it themselves, that appears to be defined to mean, "Yes. I can speak and you should listen, but you should remain quiet, as I have spoken."

That is the height of hypocrisy for those who are in need of being reminded of what the word means; i.e., preaching something you yourself do not practice.

This year I decided to put Obama signs on both sides of my pickup. That is despite the "warning" that those would be defaced, destroyed or removed.

Sure enough, at approximately 1:15 p.m. on Oct. 3, on 3rd Avenue between Main and Meeker in the friendly City of Delta, some highly enlightened, and undoutedly "patriotic" individual, did exactly that. We should all be proud of such individuals as they are certainly a credit to this community and believe in the United States Constitution and all of its provisions (and can probably quote parts of it verbatim).

You will excuse some of us if we do not share in admiring them. As, in addition to their being criminals (criminal mischief), we consider such individuals emotionally and intellectually immature.

Not too far above them on the evolutionary scale are those who either smiled or smirked when looking at those defaced signs. Those were not children or adolescents, but those of middle age and even seniors. They must have gone to school at some point, but quite obviously missed those parts of their "education" that might have been of greatest value in helping them grow up.

My first reaction, and what I had planned to do, was to replace those signs. However, thinking upon the matter further and recalling the saying that "When you have a lemon, you make lemonade," I have decided to leave those signs exactly as they are. The people of the community should therefore become accustomed to seeing them.

Their condition may serve to remind us that some in this community are not as mature, tolerant, open minded or patriotic as they claim to be. At the same time, they may be much more hypocritical than they believe they are. That may be a much more valuable lesson to teach and learn.

I am a Democrat and I support President Obama. Others support other candidates. That is their choice.

While I don't know who vandalized those signs (not that I particularly care who the miscreant was), defacing or destroying some defenseless object, or approving of it, is really a sign of someone who is either unable or unwilling to defend his/her own beliefs. Such individuals some of us consider no more than cowards.

So, whoever that coward was, may I suggest that you go try your "brownshirt" tactics on someone else. It may work on them, but not on me. If you believe otherwise, you have sorely misjudged this Democrat.

Robert Laitres

Delta

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