Letter: Presidential candidates decent men who want to better America

A recent letter to the editor caught my attention concerning President Barack Obama’s thrashing of our Constitution, and I felt compelled to respond with a few thoughts of my own in order to put some of the items into context.

The author predicted that Obama might become a dictator as he is “already bypassing Congress to enact his laws.”

Yes, Obama has issued many executive orders, as have many other presidents, dating back to George Washington in 1789. The authority to take such actions is interpreted within Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Constitution so this is standard procedure rather than the seed of dictatorship.

Furthermore, controversy has existed throughout our history. President Harry Truman integrated the armed forces in 1948 by executive order, while President Dwight Eisenhower used the privilege to enforce school desegregation.

I bet nearly all of us would agree with those decisions no matter how unpopular they were at the time.

As for the president’s stances on abortion and same-sex marriage, we could argue about the morality of those issues all day long but values and law are two different things.

Let’s put the shoe on the other foot for a moment and consider the Republican pro-life position. If the executive branch has the power to ignore or undo Supreme Court decisions, even if only through appointing new Justices, then why hasn’t Roe v. Wade been overturned in the nearly 40 years since it was decided (when Obama was barely out of grade school)?

This goes beyond the reach of any one person to control.

Finally, the fear that we might face death if we believe in God is completely unfounded.

I understand that some may not easily accept the president as a Christian like he claims to be. However, there is no evidence to suggest that he is hostile to any religion. I absolutely agree that it’s our duty to be informed.

I happen to think that Obama and Mitt Romney are both decent men who truly want to make America better despite their differences in policy.

Hopefully, voters will filter out the negativity and misinformation, and instead mark their ballots for the man who they believe is best suited to lead this country forward.

No matter who wins in November, we are still the United States of America and we are going to be just fine.

Jamie Neben, Lake Forest, Calif.

Tags: opinion, letter, letters