Will America continue with liberty and justice for all, one nation under God?

Julie Reeder

Publisher

As I have reflected this week on 9/11; I remembered the horror of covering news that day. The terror on people’s faces in New York running from the twin towers as they escaped and the buildings fell. People covered in gray dust, and the horror of watching people choose to jump to their death, rather than burn in the building. I don’t know if we’ve really witnessed anything like that since, to the degree of involving so many people and losing nearly 3,000 innocent lives.

I also remember the deep honor and appreciation of the brave first responders.Men and women who responded to the call to enter the towers as everyone was running out.

I remember thousands of people who traveled to New York to dig through the rubble to try and help find people who may have still been trapped.

And mostly, I remember how deeply personal and tragic it became when we learned that our friend and neighbor, Air Force veteran and Top Gun pilot Tom McGuinness, was the American Airlines Flight 11 co-pilot, whose plane was flown into the towers. He was a friend, a fellow sports dad, a faithful husband to Cheryl, a local church member, and we all mourned with his wife and children. It changed everything, as it always does when a news story touches us personally.

What I remember in the aftermath was the unity of the country. Politics were set aside and people just centered on being American. There were American flags everywhere. Draped on bridges, flying in front of homes and businesses and schools.

I miss that unity.

Our country seems more divided than ever now and it appears to me that some politicians prefer it that way. Some people, thinking themselves morally superior to the “others,” revel in the fight.

This isn’t good for the country. We need to get back to being Americans, honoring God, family and country. Being one nation under God with liberty and justice for all. Not just for one political party, one racial population or socio-economic class, we need to be concerned about liberty and justice for all our citizens.

That includes former President Trump. I believe we are entering a really dangerous political paradigm shift that if not stopped in its tracks will lead us to be no better than other third world countries that have seen devastation under rulers like Idi Amin (1971-1979) in Uganda. His ruling style included widespread human rights abuses,and killing political opponents. What about Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe, who was known for cracking down on opposition leaders and activists by arresting, torturing or killing them? Or Putin, or Pol Pot?

Do you think that can’t happen here? Do you think no one here is persecuted or prosecuted or killed because they are a political enemy of those in charge? More news has come out this week about the assassination of JFK in the sixties. Sure looks like the CIA was involved.

I wonder if Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will survive his presidential run?

As much as Trump is hated by his enemies, I wonder if he will survive?

It’s not a Democrat problem or a Republican problem. It’s a power hungry problem.

For instance, with Trump’s legal troubles in Georgia, it’s no different than the Russia Hoax. The prosecution doesn’t really have to win. They just need to tie up Trump so he can’t run like he has in the past, filling stadiums every day of the year. It’s election tampering.

The prosecutor, Mr. Smith, (who also tried to get Hunter Biden permanent immunity), asked for Trump’s Georgia trial to begin with jury selection on Dec. 11, repeatedly arguing that the case needs to be handled promptly because President Trump’s public comments may prejudice the jury.

President Trump’s lawyers have argued that they need years to prepare for the trial in order to review the nearly 13 million documents and files handed to them by the prosecution as part of the discovery process. In addition, they need to depose people and gather their own reports and documents.

The judge set the trial for March 4, 2024, one day before the “Super Tuesday” slew of primaries in 16 states.

That can’t be political? Can it?

Let’s be better than that. Let’s fight for fairness and justice for all, even our enemies. Let’s be that light on the hill. Let’s stop being the laughing stock of terrorists and authoritarian countries who hate us and revel in us tearing ourselves apart from the inside out.

Does our country have to experience a devastating event to find our unity again? Do we have to have an outside enemy to fight against to unify under?