After reading 1/20/05 article on President Bush's inauguration I feel moved to write and express my disappointment with the mindset that everyone in this country should throw his or her support behind the president. I take pride, as should everyone else, in the fact that I do not have to stand behind him. I do take comfort though knowing that there are people at the local, state, national, and global levels who are the true leaders. Leaders who stick up for those this administration and the ones before it ignored; leaders who make sure that those who have nothing to eat are fed; leaders who put a roof over the heads of who the day before were out in the rain; those who protect the environment from greedy contractors who want to drill, cut, and destroy what pristine environments we have left. The entire notion that he is the leader of a free country let alone a free world is ludicrous.
I need not remind everyone that he pushes for an amendment to our country's most sacred document only to prevent couples from having their loving and committed relationships recognized by the very government that they pay to protect them. That is not freedom. We do not have the road map to freedom, justice, nor liberty and as a country we never will until we begin to understand that this country is not a country that should be defined by the majority. To do so we forget about everyone else.
Eric Lee Suriname
Senior Geography
Text of President Bush's second inaugural address
