Letter to the Editor: Republicans "Promoting Fear"

This ran in yesterday's Topeka Capital-Journal.

Letter: Promoting fear

Published Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Topeka was treated to a sad example of governing by fear with the letter from Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party ("Boyda two-stepping," March 4).

The current FISA bill protects the public just as it has done since the 1970s. The only thing lacking is immunity for the Bush administration and the communication corporation heads for breaking the law.

Qwest Corp., when asked to give sensitive public information by the Bush administration, asked for the legal basis for the request. The administration refused to reply. AT&T didn't question the legality of the request and now wants protection for violating the law.

President Bush has stated he will veto any legislation that doesn't give immunity. He doesn't want to take the chance that his administration will be found guilty.

Rep. Nancy Boyda has done nothing more than ask that our laws be upheld. The Republican Party and Bush administration have ruled for seven years by playing on the fears of U.S. citizens. You are 983 times more likely to be killed by lightning than by a terrorist attack and 2,669 times more likely to be killed by a fall in the bathtub.

The public has allowed this administration to govern by fear too long. It has done this to win elections and to get legislation passed that benefits its view of how the population should be controlled. Has America lost its right to be known as the "land of the free and the home of the brave"?

JACK BARRON, Topeka

A little more evidence the people of Kansas are smarter than the Republican Party desperately wants them to be.