Written by Bishop Andrew Gentry   

I guess if the likes of Michele Bachmann and all the hate mongers at Fix News not to mention the Republican intellectual Congressman, pardon the oxymoron, Paul Ryan, who as it turns out has less than a sterling career can give a reply to the State of the Union then why can't a citizen who has no political power whatsoever, lives on his Social Security and income from a part time job, and who aspires simply to live out his life in simplicity and dignity give his response. In consideration thereof I will do so before the State of the Union is even given by the President! The reason for this seemingly premature response is that even though we do not know the specific words we all already know the content anyway. It will be basically, to paraphrase the Immoral Bard, full of sound and whimpers signifying nothing. So in the delusional hope that either he or one of his supporters and or one of his opponents might actually see and read this I offer the following:

Mr. President I once sent you a letter as I did all of your Democratic rivals and posed the following question "why should I continue to believe in America?" but I never heard a word from you or them no surprise there. Now it is two years later Mr. President and I feel more convinced than ever that the so-called American ideal and dream is mostly an illusion created by Hollywood and the Robber Barons of Wall Street. I never asked your opponents this question because we all know when all is said and done what they really believe in and what they really stand for don't we! That is wealth and wealth alone and the protection there of at all cost to especially to those least able to make the sacrifice! Now it appears that you sir are perfectly willing to accommodate them and their plantation ideal of the nation and of the Constitution. You had a majority in both Houses and because of the gutless leadership in the Senate and your overbearing willingness to appease the Republican right wing you and your party has lost that majority and because of that we those least able to bear the cost of such loss will nonetheless have to! Let me tell you and the robber barons that are your opposition which is anything but the loyal one what the state of the Union is for us not for you or them but for us. After all Mr. President, Speaker Slush eyes and Congresswoman Bachmann for you all it is pretty good. You all have the best health care money can buy but we do not even with the so-called health care reform which your friends across the isle have now repealed in the House. You and your colleagues in the Congress can send yourselves or your children to the best schools and universities but we cannot because we cannot afford it. You and your friends on the Hill can raise your salaries and the perks that go with it anytime you want but we cannot in fact we cannot even have a living wage law! The Republicans and your Party members Mr. President can afford all the medications any doctor can proscribe but few of us can even hope to do that even when our lives are at great risk. All of those in the Beltway who are called representatives can afford a decent home but few if any of us can. The wealthy supported by their lackeys in Congress and with your Administration's assistance have little in taxes to pay but those of us especially the working poor carry as always the majority of the burden. You and the politicians in Washington never suffer the indignity of illegal search and seizure or the forced separation of parents from children but millions of us do and without redress.

This is THE state of the Union in which we live and survive and when all the hoopla is over following your address and that great combination of a fish fry, camp meeting, and donnybrook called the Congress has left the chamber our state of the union will not have changed at all. The lunatics like Bachmann, the hate entrepreneurs like Beck, Limbaugh, Palin and others, the robber barons and servants of mammon will continue to control the U. S. We have no change either one in which we can believe or we can see Mr. President. So the sad suspicion I had is true about America. If you have money you are just fine if you do not you're S.O.L!

I believe in the inalienable rights of human beings Mr. President not banks or corporations. When this country shows a commitment to that sacred ideal then I will believe "in America", then I will take the State of the Union address seriously, perhaps.

Bishop Andrew Gentry
The Church of All Saints and Sorts,
A Congregational Catholic Church
Asheville N C