Time For A Serious Debate

To the Editor:

As a former Navy carrier pilot who served in Vietnam, I feel qualified to discuss the obvious, significant differences between plane guard duty in the open ocean and Swift boat operations on the waterways of the Mekong Delta. I might also discuss failure to fulfill Air National Guard obligated service. I will not begin these debates: these are serious times that require, in my view, serious debate about the future of our nation.

Some experts now write that we will have troops in Iraq for ten years or more. Could we discuss the sacrifices required by our brave young men and women? Could we discuss how we pay for this war when the federal deficit is out of control? Could we discuss tax cuts that primarily benefit big business and the rich?

Could we debate the imprisonment of suspected terrorists for years without access to legal help or public hearing? Could we discuss the reasons that the environment and clean air are dirty words in Washington?

As a plebe at the US Naval Academy in 1957, we were required to memorize many bits of trivia. Most have been erased by advancing senility, but one quotation, attributed to Thomas Jefferson, is stored in my memory. I believe it is still meaningful for us today for both domestic and foreign problems. The quote is: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

Very respectfully,

Paul R. Arneth

4 Settlers Lane, Sandy Hook                                 September 10, 2004