THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 14, 1995 TAG: 9505110011
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Staff writer Alex Marshall's comments (Commentary, May 7) linking Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and others to the bombing in Oklahoma City is indicative of the muddle-headed irrationalism liberals have become famous for.
Fortunately, most American are not so easily duped by such leaps of logic and have no problem drawing a distinction between those who advocate limited government with the anarchic violence perpetrated by a group of criminal malcontents.
A distrust of government largess is a good thing and should not be discouraged. One does not have to dig very far into the writings of our country's founders to find out that they too had a real disdain for the federal government's intrusion into the private affairs of law-abiding citizens. However, if I were to follow Mr. Marshall's questionable logic, this would also make James Madison and Thomas Jefferson intellectual co-conspirators in the Oklahoma bombing.
With regard to Mr. Marshall's disparaging remarks for those who defend the integrity of the Second Amendment, one of the founders near and dear to Virginians, George Mason, convincingly told the Virginia ratifying convention that ``the militia . . . consists now of the whole people, except for a few public officers.'' I would suggest that if Mr. Mason were around today he'd not only be proud to host a fund-raising cocktail party for Gun Owners of America, he'd probably be its spokesman.
The relentless barrage of ``hate speech'' leveled against conservatives since the Oklahoma bombing is unconscionable and it's a policy that The Virginian-Pilot should reconsider.
Conservatives are right to mistrust and criticize the federal government when it runs rough-shod over the constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals. For conservatives, the weapon for change has been, and will continue to be, the ballot box. The message of individual liberty and personal responsibility will not be chilled by the political correctness of men like Mr. Marshall.
SEAN R. GERETY
Virginia Beach, May 8, 1995 by CNB