An Open Letter To Barack Obama…
President Obama:
I am a 43-year-old father of three beautiful girls. We recently found out that we are expecting twins, so that number will soon be five. I am very blessed and wealthy beyond measure. I am also, like any American parent, very concerned with the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT.
I saw your speech and you seemed to be as moved as any of us by this tragedy. It was not your failure nor mine. Bad things happen. Evil exists.
My major concern is that I see potential hypocrisy surfacing and I don’t like it. Your two beautiful daughters attend Sidwell Friends School. I know you want the very best for your daughters and as a father I have total respect for that. I am proud of you.
What I can not respect is that you seem to provide one solution for your family and propose another for the rest of us. I completely understand that your daughters must be protected at all times. You are the President of the United States. We can never allow your family to be compromised in any way. I would give my life to protect your daughters or anyone else’s. Our kids are our future. I do understand that your children can never be compromised.
But, Mr. Obama, I don’t feel like I can allow my family to be compromised either. My girls are my whole world. My children mean everything to me. Are your children more important than mine? The school that your girls attend is reported to have 11 armed guards. Is it such a stretch for the rest of us to ask for 2 or 3 armed guards at our schools?
I will be honest and tell you that you look like a hypocrite now. Your own family gets one treatment and the solution for the rest of us is to start taking guns away or stop selling certain guns, or whatever it is you are proposing. I am not even sure what you want because you don’t ever seem to come out and say it. I need to know where you stand. I deserve to know where you stand.
Mr. Obama you very much look like a politician with an agenda…not a leader. The people of this country are looking for a leader. It has been a long time since we have had one. I will not lie to you. I am a conservative. But I will also tell you that I haven’t felt like this nation has had a great leader since Ronald Reagan, and before that I would say it was probably Kennedy. It’s not about liberals and conservatives. The nation will follow a true leader regardless of his political party.
I know you probably won’t answer this question but I have to ask it anyway. Mr. Obama are you using this tragedy to further your plan to take our guns? Are you automatically going to dismiss NRA proposals simply because NRA members are normally from that “other” party? You have spoken many times of how the bickering between parties has to stop. You need to be the example. It needs to start with you. That’s what leaders do.
Mr. Obama this is not about being a Democrat or Republican. This is about right and wrong.
So why is it that something can be right for your girls and wrong for mine? I am not a Harvard graduate but I feel that this makes you nothing more than a common hypocrite.
I am not asking you to give me the 24 hour armed security that you need for yourself and your family. I am asking you to protect my children when I can not. I am also asking you not to go against the founders of this country and to respect the purpose of the second amendment. Mr. Obama, there will be a day when the people of this nation may need to protect themselves against a corrupt government.
I pray that this is not one of those times because just like you or any good father, I will fight for the right to protect my family and I am willing to die for them. If this becomes about a political agenda then I will not hesitate to protect my rights as an American citizen.
I am begging you to protect my kids and leave all political agendas for another day. Mr. Obama, I know you love your children, but I love mine too.
Respectfully,
Dean Garrison
