The act of taking an oath of office, is a matter of great gravity and should not be taken lightly. For a president of these United States to so flagrantly ignore his oath cannot be tolerated.As a citizen of a democracy, it is our right and responsibility to make educated decisions about who we suppo rt and then vote to express our desires for our country’s direction. A critical component of this process in addition to the act of voting is to be honestly informed by those who are running for office. They must tell the truth. They must not hide the truth. Those are two different things. When those who seek to influence the minds of the electorate use falsehoods, either of their own making or by going to the extreme of using the propaganda of foreign adversaries, they seek to undermine our democracy for their own ends, none of which is good. As voters, it is our responsibility to be relentless in seeking the truth and then to make an informed choice at the ballot box.The current administration’s embrace of “Newspeak” and “Doublethink” as envisioned by George Orwell in his classic dystopian novel, “1984,” has come true.Mr. Miller, the author of the letter to the editor, “Real politik,” seemed to suggest that ignoring adherence to the oath might somehow save the country by noting a slight difference in the oath taken by a president. His logic is not clear to me, and most dictionaries suggest that to swear an oath or to affirm an oath are synonymous.Regardless, the Constitution is the skeleton of the body of our democratic country that gives it shape, character, purpose, strength and allows it to function both at home and abroad. In our democracy, the Constitution is what defines us, refines us and makes us the envy of many freedom-seeking peoples around the world.He then quickly moved to the topic of Ukraine.Fact: Russia invaded Ukraine no matter what Russia or some American politicians would have you believe. Ukraine has expressed an interest in becoming a democratic country within the NATO alliance. Is it in the interest and support of democratic principles to not support Ukraine at the same time ignoring the great threat to the democracies of Europe posed by Russia? It is not. Mr. Miller is more concerned about China. How the United States handles the Ukraine/Russia debacle is being watched closely by China and everyone else in the world. If we dump Ukraine on the bonfire of expedience. China will only be emboldened. Mr. Miller seems to think otherwise.He found fault with supplying weapons to Ukraine for their defense because it is drawing down the stockpiles of American weapons. He did not mention that the previous administration initiated, and the current administration continues to, send large amounts of weapons to Israel. Newly revised estimates of the loss of Israeli lives due to the October 2024 attack by Hamas have been reduced to 1,200. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since the October attack has used American bombs and other weapons to notch over 50,000 Palestinians killed, and it is estimated that one third of them were under the age of 18. The massive infrastructure and humanitarian damage is beyond the scope of this letter. There are factions of Israelis who are also abhorrent of Netanyahu’s kill ratio. This is not antisemitism. Rather it is a statement of asymmetric retaliation to not just defend the state of Israel, but it appears to go way beyond that to protect Netanyahu from prosecution in his own country. Mr. Miller, this too is a depletion of weapon stocks as well. You did not make note of it.China is watching … everyone is.Frederic CatoniPark CityThe post Reality vs. real politik appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less