“I’m going to kill you, you sonofabitch!” If you want a reply to your letter sent a politician there is an opening statement guaranteed to prompt a response. But not only is such a statement bad form and in very poor taste, it is likely to invite a visit from the constabulary asking you “interesting questions.” Still, not a few of us experience such anger toward politicians seemingly dedicated to selling out and betraying America and would like to vent our anger toward them in some such manner.

Now if you are a literary person, you know, one of those rare breed that reads good literature, there is a wealth of material from which to glean the appropriate quotations for your letter. The danger here is that those in the employ of politicians assigned the task of screening mail may not be literate. Bad enough Caesar Bush thought Africa was a nation (that was enough to make me shudder at the time), but such ignorance seems to infect the class of politicians nowadays and such ignorance seems rampant among those like secretaries employed in support services.

I was confronted with this a few years ago when a very pleasant man called asking if I were threatening to kill then Governor Gray Davis? This very well-mannered fellow was in charge of protecting the governor from various nut cases, but when my letter was referred to him after reading it he concluded I didn’t exactly fit the profile of an ordinary nut. So, as he explained to me, instead of immediately assigning some of his officers to come knocking at my door in the dead of night decided to call and ask me the relevant question: “Was I threatening to kill the governor?”

Now, gentle reader, if you are acquainted with the protocol surrounding politicians getting death threats you will surely be surprised by my getting such a phone call rather than my door being kicked in at 2 a.m. During the course of our conversation this very well-mannered gentleman explained he thought my letter evidenced someone very well educated, and such people generally did not send the governor death threats. Since he had my letter in hand, I called his attention to the quotation marks of the offending statement.

Well, the conversation at that point took such an interesting turn this fellow actually gave me his name and personal phone number where he could be reached directly. Turns out he had a great interest in literature, and was apologetic about a secretary unable to distinguish quotation marks, though he mentioned he had noted them and together with the literary form of my letter prompted the call rather than a visit by the cops asking me those interesting questions.

However, I did come away from this experience with the hope there were those among our police services in whatever capacity who are literate and civilized, and capable of being able to distinguish between those threatening violence and those like me who are able to make our convictions known to politicians in a civilized and literate manner.

But over the years as I have fought the battle for open dialogue between politicians and We the People, asking that we the Great Unwashed not be treated as though we were stupid sheep unable to handle the truth such a battle has generally been met with personal attacks, not many of which fall into the category of civilized good manners let alone being literate, and those like the ACLU intent on destroying America in the high flown rhetoric of “defending” our civil liberties.

However, the line between civil liberties and our security as a nation, the need for unity rather than the divisive attacks by the ACLU on our very heritage and culture as a Christian Nation, the need for making English our national language by law and absolute security at our borders is one made very clear by a columnist for whom I have always had the greatest respect: Thomas Sowell.

In his column today “Point of no return,” Sowell clearly defines the threat to America. That we are quickly approaching that point where we must make the decision whether Western Civilization, whether the heritage and culture of America is even worth preserving is being forced upon us. And it would be futile to expect the ACLU or La Raza to cooperate in saving America. On the contrary, both of these are dedicated to either having an America made in their image, or the Hitlerian scorched earth destruction of our nation.

While there is no excuse to be found for the brutality with which Indians in America were treated because of the greed and avarice on the part of politicians, we must live with the results. And these include the observation by Henry Thoreau asking whether the Indian would be wise to trade the wigwam he owned for the mortgaged palace of the “civilized?” But even Henry called attention to the fact the cannibal left off eating people when introduced to the better manners of civilized people.

Not much is left of the history of my Choctaw Cherokee ancestors from the maternal side of my family, the Caldwell’s. There were no writers of books as such in order to preserve much of their history. But that can be a blessing when it comes to horse thieves and other scoundrels in the family tree.

Take the Heath’s for example, a generally noble family name and history complete with family crest. A Major General William Heath served George Washington in our War for Independence, and had I stopped at that point in searching my roots well and good. However, what really generated my interest in that side of the family was a trip to Tombstone, Arizona many years ago while I was still an undergraduate. While visiting Boot Hill much to my surprise one of the very few original markers was that of John Heath! Turns out he was the infamous leader of a gang of cutthroats, and when he was apprehended a mob from Bisbee stormed the jail, took him out and lynched him.

The history of America includes that of barbarians as well as those like George Washington, and family trees generally include both a Major General William Heath and a John Heath. But we must live with both, and there remains that point of decision to which Sowell has drawn our attention whether we have an America reflecting the best of our heritage and culture worthy of preserving, whether the battle against the barbarians of Islam is to be waged and fought in earnest to win or allow those like the ACLU and La Raza to sacrifice America to the barbarians.

There can be no doubt about the intentions on the part of the barbarians of Islam to destroy all civilized nations. But why should there be any doubt among civilized nations this is a war that must be won and we must fight this war without the restrictions of political correctness which virtually guarantee our defeat? But who among our elected leaders can be trusted to wage such a war? It is at this point I have to wonder whether the Biblical prophecies of the End Times just might have it right and we may be that generation of which Jesus spoke.