Dear President Obama,
I've been watching the relationship between our government and the citizens of this country slowly deteriorate. I know it's not entirely your fault. The previous regimes (yes Clinton too) have left a lot to be desired within this country. But this TSA thing is just going too far. Our elected officials are perfectly happy allowing TSA employees to sexually harass their customers. Think about it this way. If you were at your place of business and your boss (before you were president, sir) said, "before you exit/enter this building I must frisk you just to be safe. You don't have to submit to this but if you don't you will be fired and could face a $10,000 fine". Do you know what that is? That is sexual harassment. How is it acceptable for that to be done to us at airports? But never mind that. I have a suggestion for you that I hope makes it to you. Stop BS'ing around the States. Fuck these dudes here. They will never let you get anything done. No matter what you did with the health care in this country the rePUBICans were going to try to dump on you. I truly feel the most important thing you have done in your entire time in office is to shake Hugo Chavez's hand. Let's keep this going. Get out in the world. Talk to all the leaders of the countries the United States has oppressed over the past two decades. Lift the embargo on Cuba, apologize to Ecuador on behalf of George Bush, open up FAIR trade relations with Bolivia, Venezuela, and all other Latin American countries. Get our private businesses out of enterprises that should be run by their states. Did you know that Bechtel made it a crime to collect rain water in Bolivia. They had jacked up the prices so high the average citizen couldn't afford water, and then made it illegal for them to collect it. In Venezuela don't listen to the former leaders and corrupted media outlets. Hugo Chavez was voted in as president and when we helped to remove him, riots broke out across the country until he was re-established. Let's get you out to the Middle East. Sit down with leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and sit with the more prominent terrorist organizations. The terrorists attacked us not to kill innocent U.S. citizens. They attacked us to collapse our economy and bring about a worldwide recession. It worked. They attacked us to make us change the way we live and to make our government overreact and become even more oppressive. It worked. They had a reason behind it. Sit down and talk with them and other leaders in the region. Fighting is never the solution. If you sat down with people at a round table discussion and let everyone air their grievances you would be surprised by how much it would accomplish. Perhaps Bin Laden has a point. Maybe it isn't right for us to spread our influence through military and force of economy. People love our culture. They love McDonalds, they love basketball, they love hip hop and country. They don't love bombs being dropped on their houses nor do they love military bases being constructed next door. Having a military presence in another country is obscene. It's even worse because we don't let them build bases here. Be a man. Go out there and look these "rebel" or "difficult" world leaders in the eye and talk out your problems. You can't tell me Hugo Chavez wouldn't LOVE to trade oil to us, we consume so damn much of it. You can't tell me Evo Morales wouldn't love to trade natural gases to us, you can't tell me little Castro wouldn't want a flow of American goods and that U.S. citizens wouldn't love cheap Cuban cigars. Just make the trade arrangements fair. These countries hate us because we expect lopsided trade arrangements and if they don't sign them we threaten them with violence or trade embargos. Let's stop being worldwide bullies and start being a member of the worldwide community. Maybe others will follow suit when they realize they no longer have to fear being invaded for the smallest perceived injustice. Just a thought.
A Concerned Citizen,
Tyler Martin
