From the Desk of Terry Lynch

DATE:  Aug. 22, 1998 

FROM: Terry Lynch
      POB 241035
      Montgomery, AL 36124-1035

E-mail: TerryLynch@aol.com

Internet site: The Pyrotechnic Pen

Additional Information: Lynch Links


Letter to the Editor 
 

SUBJECT:  Civil Disobedience Is Not Moral Bankruptcy

Please publish the following retraction which corrects errors and 
defamatory remarks expressed in letter by Keith Strickland's Aug. 
22, 1998 entitled Letter Reveals Moral Bankruptcy.

I am not associated with any imagined "Clintonista army," left 
wing group or even the democratic party.  Nor are my opinions an 
expression of "moral bankruptcy."  This should be obvious to 
anyone familiar with the principle of civil disobedience and the 
teachings of Jesus Christ.

Throughout history people have resisted unjust laws.  Our nation 
was founded because Americans did not want to be taxed and 
controlled without representation by a British monarchy as 
eloquently expressed by Thomas Paine in his Common Sense 
pamphlets.  In 1849 Henry David Thoreau penned Civil 
Disobedience which has served to inspire such great world 
leaders and reformist as Mahatma Gandhi, Rev. Martin Luther King, 
Jr., and South African President and winner of the 1993 Nobel 
Peace Prize Nelson Mandela.  In fact Jesus Christ's teaching of 
love stood against Roman rule and did much to bring down the 
Imperial Roman Empire.

There are many people, among them lawyers, who agree that Susan 
Mc Dougal's incarceration for contempt of court was an admirable 
act of civil disobedience.  In any case it is incorrect to 
characterize my opinion in this matter as, "ignorance of the law 
and select interpretation of the Constitution to fit a 
preconceived notion... the thinking of a weak and ideologically 
polluted mind that eschews objectivity for political expediency."  
These remarks are defamatory because I have no political 
affiliations with either the Democratic or Republican parties nor 
any preconceived notions with respect to our laws and the 
Constitution.  Indeed, I believe each case is unique and that our 
laws are constantly changing, in flux to reflect the times.  This 
logic is certainly not "weak" nor "polluted" but pure and 
Samsonite.

We must remember that you can not legislate morality.  To do so 
makes criminals out of every free thinking person who sees God in 
a different light.  Laws establish justice and enable humans to 
live in harmony among each other.  Religion establishes morality.  
When church and state combine then we have the injustice of 
theocracy and the death of democracy.  Then we have people 
imprisoned or executed for their religious beliefs.  This is not 
"ham-handed, concrete-bound, politically tainted rhetoric," but 
the gospel of our republic form of government which separates 
church and state and provides a system of law which may adapt and 
change over time.

People are not moral or immoral, ignorant or intelligent based 
upon whom they vote for or how they view current events.  If that 
were the case you could not vote for anyone, read a newspaper or 
watch television without suffering some degree of corruption. 

Please cease and desist from the future publication of lies and 
defamatory statements with respect to my intelligence, morality 
and good character.  Everyone has a right to their opinion, but 
no one has a right to use the media to make false accusations 
which attack a private citizen's morality, intelligence or good 
character.

Sincerely, Terry Lynch 
Montgomery, AL 
 

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