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I am from the very Republican, very Conservative town of Jacksonville, Illinois. In our local newspaper, the Journal Courier, we have a section on the back page called the "Open Line" where people can call in and voice their opinions on different matters. During one such opinion, a caller refered to the Democrats as the "anti-American Democrats". The following is my Letter to the Editor in response:

I am a Democrat. From a recent comment in the Open Line, it appears that at least one person thinks this makes me anti-American. I, however, beg to differ.

To me, being anti-American would mean revealing the name of a covert CIA operative for political purposes. To me, being anti-American would mean compromising national security by selling control of our ports to foreign entities. To me, being anti-American would mean invading a country on false pretenses and then failing to protect American troops with adequate body armor.

If anyone ought to be chastised for being anti-American, it should be those who decide to promote the idea that the President of the United States is above the law. Democrats are criticized as having a "pre-9/11 mentality" when it comes to wanting to safe-guard our nation's civil-liberties. Instead, we are expected to adhere to a pre-1776 mentality of President-as-King.

To some, the United States is seen as a Christian nation, founded on Christian ideals. If that is the case, then it is certainly anti-American to not provide all Americans with health care. After all, "Whatever you do to these my brethren, even the least of them, you have done it to Me."

If the United States is a Christian nation, then the conservatives are certainly anti-American since they fail miserably at being stewards of God's creation.

To be American is to uphold the rule of law and to view all men as being created equal. People should not be chastised for exercising their freedom of speech to voice political dissent, they should be commended as Americans since they are doing precisely as the founders intended: participating in a democracy.