General

I’m writing to you because I’d like to know your stance on H.CON.RES.274; a house resolution titled:

‘Reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the official motto of the United States and supporting and encouraging the public display of the national motto in all public buildings, public schools, and other government institutions.’

But before we get to that, I’d like to point out that (as you are probably well aware) this resolution is highly unconstitutional. “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God” are remnants of McCarthyism — a dark period in our nation’s history where the lives of many innocent people were needlessly destroyed in a storm of nationalist fervor. Proponents of this resolution will argue that since these mottoes make no reference to any specific religion, they don’t exclude anyone. But this is poor logic at best. In order to believe that, you’d have to believe that everyone in the U.S. believes in a god of some sort, which is definitely not the case.

This resolution also has the effect of reaffirming the myth that the U.S. was founded upon “Christian” values/ideals and was intended by the founding fathers to be a “Christian” nation. History is full of evidence to the contrary — the “Treaty of Tripoli” for example, explicitly states that the U.S. is not ‘in any sense’ founded upon the Christian religion. However modern day revisionists are doing their best to push this myth down the collective throat of the public.

I’m sure that you’re aware of what is going on in Texas currently; Religious zealots have taken over the school board and are pushing for a curriculum that marginalizes the civil rights movement, evolution, Thomas Jefferson; attempts to whitewash the less-savory parts of American history (e.g., the near-extinction of native Americans, slavery, McCarthyism, etc.) And — this is the worst part — furthers the misguided idea known as “American Exceptionalism”. This is the idea that the U.S. is somehow special; that we are immune to the ills that plague other nations because we have been chosen by God to be an example for other nations to emulate. This idea is extremely self-serving and jingoistic. It breeds arrogance and an attitude that the U.S. is the only relevant nation in the world — we can do whatever we want, invade anyone we want, we are accountable to nobody. In effect, this idea has turned us into the world’s bully.

You don’t have to look too far to see that we’re on a dangerous path towards fascism. Today, a large portion of Americans have forgotten the difference between patriotism (e.g., dissent, honesty, civil discourse) and nationalism (e.g., blind adherence to an idealized version of our nation, demonization of unpopular speech and the people doing the speaking). These same Americans wear their ignorance as a badge of honor — they harbor contempt for people who disagree in the slightest sense, and they’re willing to do violence to further their “cause”. They have absolutely no regard for the rights of those whose beliefs conflict with their own; indeed, the spread of eliminationist rhetoric by conservative media outlets has had the effect of dehumanizing anyone who doesn’t see things their way. When politicians speak of “True Americans(tm)” as if some of us are lesser citizens, we should all be worried because we’ve heard this sort of rhetoric in the past and we know exactly what it leads to… in case this isn’t clear enough, I’m talking about Germany in the 1930′s.

I’m pleading with you as a concerned citizen and a veteran of the U.S. Army who served his country in Iraq — a veteran who knows all too well what the current climate of ignorance, fearmongering, lies, religious zealotry, and propaganda has done to his country… please, do not support this resolution, or even better, do everything within your power to kill it outright. We need not reaffirm this myth! Doing so is only adding more fuel to the fire. Those who worship at the altar of nationalistic religious fascism will only use it as a weapon against their fellow citizens.

Thank you.

Charles E. Hamilton III