Letters to Editor
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This letter was published in The Record, 10/4/2017
I wonder if the people making such a big deal over some players in the NFL not standing for the national anthem realize we didn’t even have an “anthem” until the 1930’s and the tune to which it’s played isn't even American, but the tune of an old English drinking song. The same could be said about the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, which wasn’t written until the 1890s and by a self-avowed Socialist named Walter Bellamy at that.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This letter was published in The Record, 9/14/2017, USA Today, 9/13/2017, and the Suburban Trends, 9/20/2017
While racism, bigotry and hate deserve to be condemned, I can't help but observe that many of the letter writers to The Record display an appalling lack of historical knowledge despite their noble intentions.
For example, I see the concept of secession being labeled as treason when applied to the South in 1860. If that’s the case, then the original 13 colonies should be condemned for seceding or breaking away from England in 1776. Keep in mind that the states brought the federal government into existence not the reverse.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This letter was published in The Record, 9/7/2017, USA Today, 9/6/2017, and the Suburban Trends, 9/13/2017
In the three weeks since the violence in Charlottesville, not many people have taken note that the “Alt Right” white nationalists and the “Antifa” counter protesters actually have some things in common. For example, both groups are hostile towards a free market economy, in that they both oppose free trade. Recall the “Occupy Wall Street” rallies of several years back, when many of the same people and organizations that were in Charlottesville were also involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Both groups believe in censorship of those they don't agree with. If either side ever got in power you could kiss the Bill of Rights goodbye. Can anyone imagine the white nationalists, the Ku Klux Klan, or National Socialists (Nazis) allowing blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians or people in the LGBTQ community the right to own guns or have First Amendment rights? The other side would do the same thing in a heartbeat.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This month it will be one year since I was charged with "harassment" and "criminal mischief" in the "People's Republic of Gladstone and Peapack". What heinous act did I commit to warrant those charges? Are you ready for this? I left history magazines at the drive-up windo at th Peapack-Gladstone Bank in Gladstone, NJ! Apparently leaving reading material in areas frequented by the public is not allowed in the"Constitution -free zone" called Gladstone!
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- Written by: Jim Tosone
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in The Record, 11/11/2016
Regarding "2016 county, municipal, election results" (Page L-3, Nov. 9):
Those who voted by absentee ballot should be aware that they were not in the unofficial results posted on the website of the Bergen County clerk at 11:18 p.m. on election night. Nor were they in the vote totals shown in The Record the following day. There were 33,000 absentee ballots, about 8.5 percent of the total votes cast.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
This letter was published in the Suburban Trends, 1027/2016
Allow me to respond to two letters which appeared in the Suburban Trends on Oct. 12, 2016. First, we had a letter by a writer who usually goes on an anti-Japanese rant every December on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, even though World War II ended over 70 years ago.
This time around the writer attacked athletes like Colin Kaepernick who didn’t stand for the national anthem at recent football games. The writer equates patriotism with blind nationalism evidently, which are two different things entirely. I wonder if all the "Fox News Conservatives" out there realize America didn’t have a national anthem until the 1930s or that the tune to which the anthem’s lyrics are set to is actually an old English drinking song.
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- Written by: Erol Sirimoglu
- Category: Letters to Editor
Originally Published in The Record, October 18, 2016
Regarding "A meeting of the minds at freeholder forum" (The Record, Oct. 14, 2016):
At the Bergen County freeholders candidates forum last week there were seven candidates: six "Republicans: and one Libertarian.
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- Written by: Mike Mazzeo
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in The Record
I have been reading the many less-than-positive things people have to say about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for this election.
It seems the majority of people find both to be a "hold your nose" choice. Their aim seems to be to keep the other from winning the election.
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- Written by: Michael Chazukow
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in Suburban Trends, June 30, 2016
Dear Editor,
Over 80 percent of the town has not voted for town council yet, but 12.5 percent of the vote is enough to guarantee that one of these men will sit on the town council next year. This is because there are two seats available on the town council and these men will only face one opponent in the general election: Me.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in Suburban Trends, June 26, 2016
Dear Editor:
Will people in the journalism field such as your writer Holly Stewart ever take a consistent stand on behalf of individual liberty and the Bill of Rights? If her op-ed of June 15th is any clue, I guess the answer would be no. It almost seems that the politicians and the media mouthpieces look forward to mass shootings to crank up the "gun control is needed more now than ever" machine.
The sad events in Orlando, Fla., are reported to create the idea that if you’re supportive of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community you must be anti-gun and if you’re for the Second Amendment than you must be a "hate-filled homophobe." This is how the media frames the debate; alternative viewpoints generally get ignored.
For example did you know that there is a pro-gun group in the LGBT community known as The Pink Pistols (pinkpistols.org)?
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in The Record, June 6, 2016
Regarding "Libertarians could hurt candidate, but whom?" (Other Views, June 1):
The Op-Ed article by Bloomberg News Columnist Albert Hunt stated "there probably wouldn't be much support for Libertarians among Latinos and African-Americans…"
What a patronizing and misguided statement. Is Hunt suggesting that individual liberty has no appeal to minority voters? Racial and ethnic minorities have to deal with government interference in their lives on a daily basis just like everyone else and perhaps more so.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in Suburban Trends, April 11, 2016
In your paper's "Our View" editorial on April 3, you quote Benjamin Franklin at the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, in which he stated when asked what kind of government had been formed he replied "A Republic, if you can keep it." The problem with your quote is in the question that was asked of Franklin; the question was not whether we had a republic or a monarchy but rather whether or not we had a republic or a democracy.
No doubt it was an innocent oversight by your editorial staff but many times the question is misquoted on purpose so that the resistance to democracy by the founders is hidden from the American people.
It wasn't just Benjamin Franklin who warned against the dangers of democracy (which is unbridled majority rule with no restraints on government power; whatever the mob wants it gets).
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in The Record, April 20, 2016
Dear Editor:
Regarding "Kerry's visit to Hiroshima" (The Record Your Views, April 16, Bob Nesoff):
As a Libertarian defender of individual rights on all issues, I'm not a big defender of President Obama (any more than I was of George W. Bush). Democrats and Republicans both follow the establishment line on foreign policy, which is never-ending global intervention.
However, the recent visit of Secretary of State John Kerry to Hiroshima has come under fire by some, including a recent letter to the editor.
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- Written by: Mark Richards
- Category: Letters to Editor
Published in Suburban Trends, Feb. 10, 2016
Dear Editor:
In a recent letter (Suburban Trends Jan. 31), it was suggested that the idea of self-ownership or individual sovereignty over one’s person is somehow a "flawed" belief. The writer was arguing from a theological standpoint based on her faith.
My question to her would be, how do you intend to implement your beliefs without using the power of the state to impose your faith and values on people who don’t necessarily agree with your beliefs?
I have long argued that religious "social conservatives" have a hostility to the ideals of individual liberty that is just as authoritarian as the anti-liberty beliefs of the "liberal progressive secular humanist" types who want to micromanage your life for you. Despite the seeming hostility between these two groups, they have much in common.