April 19, 2021

Dear President Lincoln:   

I recently learned of a speech which you delivered to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838. At the time, you delivered this address, you were only 28 years old and just embarking on what would be your political career. This speech Mr. President, also helped establish you as one of the great orators of that time. In this speech, you spoke about the dangers of slavery which could corrupt the federal government and more importantly you also warned that mobs or people who disrespected U.S. laws and courts could destroy the United States. President Lincoln, you went on to say that our “Political Religion” should be the Constitution and the rule of law.  

There was on excerpt from that address that is particularly relevant today and that is your warning that the only thing that can really harm us is ourselves. Mr. President this is one time where I will let your words speak for themselves. Below is the previously mentioned excerpt and special attention should be paid to the last three paragraphs. The first two put it into the proper context:

“We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings.

We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them — they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; ’tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation, to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.

How then shall we perform it? — At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? — Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! — All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny it.”

Once again the knowledge and foresight of our greatest leaders, such as yourself, is something we all should heed and learn from. I can only hope that those who deny the rule of law and look to change our Constitution heed your words too.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

Pelham, NY

March 22, 2021

Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln:

Dear Sirs:

It is a sad day when I must write to you to inform you that you Gentlemen have been canceled.  Last month, after nearly three years of “careful” consideration, the San Francisco Board of Education in a 6-1 vote called for removing your names and those of other honored historical figures from schools due to direct or broad ties to slavery, oppression, racism, or the “subjugation” of human beings. Mister Presidents, you are not alone. You have joined a list, that appears to grow longer each day, which includes such notables as Pepe LePew, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and some of the works of Theodor Giesel (Dr. Seuss) all victims in what has become known as the cancel culture. That’s right a cartoon, a toy and a children’s book writer. Mister Presidents I am sure that you would be the first to acknowledge all your shortcomings and you President Lincoln would probably be the most outspoken regarding those shortcomings.

What really is a shame is that these cancel culture idiots waste their energies on these silly pursuits to erase you from history instead of learning more about the times in which you lived and your accomplishments relative to those times. Those accomplishments and your intelligence and prescience far outweigh anything they may think they are accomplishing today. What these geniuses fail to realize is that their actions smell worse than any skunk let alone a cartoon skunk and even Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head would tell them how inane these plans are.

President Washington, I wonder if any of them have ever read your Farewell Address where you warned us of the dangers of political parties:

“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus, the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”

Maybe if they looked around today, they could see how right you were and how they should start thinking for themselves.

President Jefferson if they only read some of your quotes, they would learn so much about what you thought about this country and how government can lead us to that “Pursuit of Happiness.” Hopefully, they would realize it is up to the individual to pursue and attain the happiness they long for. Happiness is a pursuit not a right: 

“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

Finally, President Lincoln I am quite sure that none of these geniuses have ever read your Second Inaugural Address with one of the most stirring and meaningful endings of any speech, particularly at that time or any time. For if they had, they all might just take a step back from their silly quixotic escapades and practice some of that charity and binding of the nation’s wounds instead of ripping those wounds open.

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Gentlemen, thank you for your time and know that you will never be cancelled here.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

Pelham, NY

February 8, 2012

Dear Founders, Signers and Framers:

Gentlemen:

When I initially began to write to you, I did so with two objectives in mind. The first was to keep you informed on how we are progressing and following your advice in keeping this great country, which you established, going strong. Second was to learn from our history, good or bad and to take advantage of your wisdom and instill a sense of pride in all our accomplishments. Right about now you are all probably wondering what the hell are these people doing. President Adams, I think your quote expressed all the hopes, and aspirations which you Gentlemen strove for and risked so much for, it even included a warning to all of us.

“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom.  I hope you will make good use of it.  If you do not, I shall repent in heaven, that I ever took the pains to preserve it.”

It is obvious to me that we are not making very good use of all the hard work you Gentlemen did and I feel the reason for this is that many do not know enough about our history and all that was done and sacrificed by you Gentlemen for us. I would agree with Mr. Noah Webster, a Federalist writer known as the “Father of American Scholarship and Education:

“Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.”

On the Education of Youth in America, 1788

I particularly like the part of your quote Mr. Webster where you stress the need to rehearse the history of our own country, a history which in my opinion began in 1776. Anything before that was not United States history. It was what I will call European Colonization History, a history that did not live up to our ideals but was influenced by England, France and Spain in their conquest and colonization of the Americas. Although our history began in 1776, I feel it really came all together in 1788 with the ratification of the United States Constitution, a document which you Gentlemen out did yourselves in creating.

I will now be writing to you Gentlemen, the Founders, Signers and Framers with my opinions on your work in an attempt to educate and “rehearse” our history. I will begin by writing a series of letters to you on the U.S. Constitution which has endured for over 230 years and now even has its own museum in Philadelphia, just a short walk from where you The Framers toiled and compromised to create this marvelous document which is unlike any document ever created. I will break down The Constitution from the Preamble, to the Articles and Amendments and I hope to show the true genius of you Gentlemen and this document. I also hope to show the need for this document and how it is now more important than ever that we preserve and protect it for our posterity. I can only hope that I do you and this document the justice it deserves.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

Pelham, NY

November 17, 2020

Ms. Maya Angelou

Dear Ms. Angelou:

Ms. Angelou you are well known as a poet, memoirist and civil rights activist who was never afraid to confront your past no matter how horrible it might have been. In 1993 at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton you became the first poet since Robert Frost in 1961 to make an inaugural recitation. Although you have passed away fairly recently, developments since your passing and this quote by you gave me a reason to write to you sooner than the others I usually write to.

 “History, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”

Ms. Angelou, we live in a time where history is being shredded and revised to fit certain narratives. As you are well aware, we live in what is called a “cancel culture” where those who cannot accept the facts as they happened and have no idea on how to learn from it, fail to remember that this country was founded over 244 years ago during a much different time and things do change. What was considered the norm 244 years ago can be looked upon as an evil today or what you refer to as a wrenching pain. What you are espousing in your statement is not new and many have expressed a desire to learn from the past. I have previously written to Prime Minister Golda Meir and she pretty much is on the same page as you Ms. Angelou. Where history cannot be unlived it cannot also be erased according to Ms. Meir.

“One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.”

However, there is one word in your quote that stood out and went further than the Prime Minister and that word is courage. These cancel culture and history revisionists today seem to lack the courage to confront what was the past a past which cannot hurt them today. Their lack of courage is demonstrated by them tearing down monuments which they feel are offensive and cannot harm them. The only way it can harm them is in their small minds. They also look to re-write the history books so as not to upset them because they are easily offended and again  they have nothing to fear from the past but much to learn from it.

The fact that you and Ms. Meir, two very intelligent women from very different eras and backgrounds realize the importance of history which tells me that we do not have anything to fear from our pasts. It is the lack of courage by some who keep us from moving on and improving faster than we are now. Ms. Angelou, I will keep you informed on how we progress on this issue and as always, I will espouse the need that we all must learn from history in order to improve.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

P.S. Ms. Angelou if you are interested in reading my letter to Prime Minister Meir the link to that letter is below.

Madam Prime Minister

Defending the Acts of Ones Life

October 28, 2020

Chief Justice John Marshall

Dear Justice Marshall,

It has been some time since I last wrote to you and since then I have read a biography about you and I learned that you and a cousin of yours did not get along particularly well. This cousin, Thomas Jefferson considered you a thorn in his side. That aside and with all that is going on with the dysfunction and accusations which are being thrown about by both sides in Washington, I found this quote of yours particularly interesting:

“The law does not expect a man to be prepared to defend every act of his life which may be suddenly and without notice alleged against him”

This was made by you during the trial of Aaron Burr, a conspiracy trial, where some thought that Mr. Burr was treasonous while others looked at him as patriotic.

With an election next week, the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett this quote is just as relevant as it was when you made it. I wonder Justice Marshall, how you feel about the way the confirmation process for Justices is conducted today. I am sure you would agree with me that a judge’s ruling and adherence to the rule of law is much more important for the position that one is nominated for than allegations which are brought about them that have no bearing on the ability to do the job. After all, you are considered by many to be the greatest Justice of the Supreme Court and presided over a trial that found all the allegations against Aaron Burr just that, allegations, and held no merit and found Mr. Burr not guilty of treason.

I think what you are basically saying is that one is not expected to defend acts that he or she has allegedly, and the key word is allegedly, committed long before they were even considered for this position especially is made at the spur of the moment. The same is true today 213 years after the Burr trial.

Today in this presidential election year of 2020 both sides are looking for what has become known as the October Surprise and the media somehow finds a way to dig up dirt on candidates some of which allegedly took place long before a candidate took office and they are expected to defend every act of their life. My question for you Mr. Chief Justice is if the transgression took place long before a candidate was in office would this affect the way you would consider those allegations against him?

We are all human and during the course of a lifetime we are all called upon to make decisions. Some of these may be life changing others may seem minor at the time but can turn into major problems over one’s lifetime. One thing is for certain and that is we have all made mistakes, whether youthful transgressions or adult decisions.

I am sure Mr. Chief Justice you  would be interested in how others might feel regarding your take on people defending themselves from those youthful transgressions especially if they have exhibited a change in their attitudes and the way they presently live their lives. I know I would like to know too.

I look forward to writing you again.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

Pelham, NY

National Existence

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              August 18, 2020

President Ulysses S. Grant

Dear President Grant:

It is an honor to be writing to you for the first time. Many know you as the General who won the Civil War but what many do not know is that you were one of the most hardworking presidents fighting for civil rights. You worked for the ratification of the 15^th Amendment which prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s race, color or previous condition of servitude. You realized how important this was at that time when the country could have slid back into another civil war due to the problems with reconstruction. This is evident in your quote.

“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon’s but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.”

What you are probably also aware of is that just about 150 years later this quote still speaks volumes. The problem I see is that today neither side would admit that they are on the side of ambition and ignorance. Both sides feel that they are patriotic and intelligent. I am not here to take sides but just to let you know what is going on and as always, to keep our for-bearers apprised of the job we are doing in preserving what they worked to put together and in your case  fought to keep together for us first as a General and later as President.

I am sure you are aware of all the protests and violence that is taking place in our country today. What is ironic is that one side has even gone so far as to remove one of your statues, in the name of civil rights. They feel that they need to rewrite history instead of learning from it especially since they can learn so much from the wisdom of yourself and other forefathers. Not learning and knowing our history is a bit ignorant on their part and this leads to the dividing line which you referred to.

President Grant, both sides will claim they are in the right as far as patriotism and intelligence which neither side will admit that ambition is part of their makeup and this ignorance of their ambition is what can make both sides dangerous and further widen the divide.

This leads me to another quote by one of your predecessors, President Franklin Pierce.

“While men inhabiting different parts of this vast continent cannot be expected to hold the same opinions, they can unite in a common objective and sustain.”

President Grant, I am sure you know how much larger and ethnically diverse our nation has become since this statement was made by President Pierce. It makes for a far greater and wider number of opinions and what might be important to some is trivial to others. With this larger pool of opinions and issues to draw from, it should be easier to find  common issues which would effect most of “We the People” and work on these issues to begin to resolve them for the benefit of all. If we can put aside political and personal ambitions, and educate to eliminate ignorance and work on common issues I have no doubt that we can avoid the contest which you refer.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Andrew J. DeMarco

Pelham, NY

 

Political Diseases

April 28, 2020

President Harry Truman

President James A. Garfield

Dear Presidents Truman and Garfield:

Recently, I happened to come across some quotes which were attributed to both of you. President Truman the quote which was attributed to you is easy to believe knowing your reputation for shooting from the hip and your straight forwardness:

 “Term limits would cure both senility and seniority, both terrible legislative diseases.”

I agree with you that the more seniority one has the more senility creeps in. However, today it appears that senility even impacts those with less seniority and it is probably more widespread among our elected officials.

If I may be so bold President Truman, I would like to add other diseases that term limits would cure complacency and a more virulent strain called procrastination.

Complacency sets in when a member of Congress takes his or her re-election for granted. I have seen this with my own Representative who has not had a serious challenger in the last 16 years and has not really introduced any legislation to speak of. He has become a lock stepper within his party.

Proof of these other strains is obvious.  Seventy years later Mr. President, term limits is still an issue and the diseases of complacency and procrastination still run rampant. It is logical why these two diseases are deeply imbedded. Why would someone introduce legislation that would in effect put a time limit on his or her lucrative job? This is why procrastination spreads throughout Congress and even infects all levels of state and local legislatures. A vaccine is needed.

Which brings me to you President Garfield but before I continue, I think you should know Mr. President, I am not a fan of term limits. We have term limits, it is called the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November or simply put Election Day. Term limits tells me that “We the People,” maybe are not capable of determining our destiny. Which leads me to your quote:

“Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.”

James A. Garfield

President Garfield although you do not call them diseases allow me to add them to the list. These too infect our representatives and are far worse in the big scheme of things, the diseases of ignorance, recklessness and the worst of all corruption. Your quote President Garfield is basically telling us that we are responsible for spreading these diseases and are highly likely in certain circumstance to be the carrier of them.

Therefore, we cannot let these diseases infect us as it does our representatives on every level. We must build that immunity especially an immunity against ignorance because an educated and enlightened electorate is the best vaccine. If we don’t develop that immunity, we have no one to blame but ourselves and we are in fact spreading ignorance, recklessness and corruption which are probably other strains of complacency.

“We the People” are the perfect vaccine. We do not have to wait out the disease of procrastination, we can remedy that on the First Tuesday after the First Monday in November with our vote. I am sure injecting our vaccine would shock and in most cases rid us of all those who are infected with those dreaded legislative diseases which you mentioned President Truman.

I would like to thank you both President Truman and President Garfield for allowing me to ramble and vent. With all that is currently going on in our country and around the world today with the Coronavirus and Social Distancing this letter to you provided me with some moments away from all the “Existential Threats” we are facing and to address the real ones.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

Pelham, NY

Leading Mankind

 

December 6, 2019

President John F. Kennedy

Dear President Kennedy:

A few weeks back we commemorated the 56^th anniversary of your assassination in Dallas Texas. Those of us who are old enough to remember that day can still remember exactly where they were when they learned of this tragedy. I myself was sitting in my 4^th grade class at Blessed Sacrament and Mrs. Crotty, our teacher, delivered the news after she received a note from the principal. Many of us wonder what this country might have been like if you did not meet this tragic fate that day in November. As you know, you were on your way to the Dallas Trade Mart to deliver a speech to business and civic leaders but unfortunately that speech was never delivered. Thanks to your Library, copies of that speech are available.

Mr. President, as you know that speech was to tell all about the importance of the United States maintaining and improving their standing as the best hope for the world. This coming just a little over a year after our confrontation with the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The ending of that speech is one which still can be a lesson for us today.

“Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation’s future is at stake, Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause – united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future – and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and abundance.”

Well Mr. President one thing that hasn’t changed is the quarreling amongst ourselves. If anything, it has gotten worse and due to this fact, it is making our ability to take on that leadership role and lead all mankind to those new frontiers impossible. In fact, it is allowing others to begin to step into the void left by us and Countries such as China and the old Soviet Union are beginning to feel their oats. This was after the fall of communism in the 1990s. Another item that has changed is that many feel that our past heritage is tainted and attempts are made to change and revise our history as to not offend anyone. President Kennedy, please allow me to give you some examples. There are those who would like to wipe out any memory of the Confederate States of America. Our Civil War was not exactly one of our finer moments, but the results have made us into the Country which you know. People are offended by the fact that some of those who fought for the Confederacy are memorialized with monuments but as I have said in letters to others it is a way to learn from the past and I am sure that you would agree. By revising history we do not cleanse ourselves we just become deniers.

You see President Kennedy that once again if we just take a step back and learn from that past heritage as you suggested and take the advice of leaders like yourself is still pertinent and maybe we would not be in the situation that we presently find ourselves.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to writing you again soon.

 

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

 

 

Useless Lives

 

November 4, 2019

President John Adams

Dear President Adams,

In all the letters written to you and the other Founders, Signers and Framers, I tried to keep you updated on what is going on in this country that you founded. I also hope to make a point that we should be able to learn from your insights, hopes and aspirations for this country and to learn from the mistakes of the past. Finally, what I have learned is that although times have changed and advances have been made, in reality some things never change and the adage that history repeats itself is something which we should always keep in mind. This is evident in the quote below which has been attributed to you.

“In my many years, I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress.”

Wow, President Adams please tell us how you really feel! I have heard many people insult and joke about lawyers, but you really did a job on Congress. If you felt that way about the 138 members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in your day just imagine what it would be like today with 535 members of both houses? In your eyes that would be a truly huge waste of humanity.

President Adams, I have to report that many people today pretty much feel the same way you did back then. Polls taken a few months ago in August show that Congress has an approval rating of about 17%. What makes this even worse, Congressional approval ratings hasn’t hit 30% in over ten years. It seems to be a spiraling downward trend which unless things change it will continue that way since Congress doesn’t appear to have learned from their mistakes. I have always said there is much to learn from history and from the wisdom of you President Adams along with the other Founders.

Maybe we can all take a lesson from this quote of yours, and take a step back before the 2020 election and take a good look at the accomplishments or lack thereof of our Representatives and weed out the “useless.”

Although your words Mr. President may seem harsh, politics is not a game for the faint of heart. Imagine, with one simple statement you managed to make lawyers look good!

Thank you for your time President Adams and I look forward to writing to you again soon.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

A Little Whiskey

 

September 23, 2019

 

President Zachary Taylor

Dear President Taylor:

I must admit I didn’t think I would ever be writing a letter to you for several reasons. First, you were not one of our better-known early Presidents and that is probably because your term of office lasted only 17 months as you became the second president to die in office. You were mostly known for your military career and it is said that the first time you ever voted was when you ran for President. You believed that it was impractical to expand slavery and you were a devoted nationalist and believed that the country’s problems could not be resolved by secession. Knowing this, I wonder President Taylor what the country might have been like had you not died in office? I am sure you would like to know and probably be puzzled by the fact that the term “Nationalist” is now considered by some to be taboo.

It is my habit of doing cryptograms that lead me to this letter and a quote attributed to you.

“I have no private purpose to accomplish, no party objectives to build up, no enemies to punish – nothing to serve but my country.”

This tells me you were not looking for personal gains, no party motives and no vendettas toward others to settle. Nothing but service to “We the People.”  This quote led me to do some additional research and I came across the next quote.

 “I am not a party candidate, and if elected cannot be President of a party, but the President of the whole people.”

The soldier in you comes through and you realized to accomplish anything in Washington you needed to be a leader and not a ruler. Obviously, as you stated you were an Independent President and this showed in that you where unwilling to accept the Whig Party nomination and it took convincing by supporters and some influential Senators for you to accept it. Your first two quotes would have made President Washington proud in that he championed the Chief Executive remain independent of any party affiliations. You would also would probably be shocked to know President Taylor that most of our supposed “Public Servants” leave office in much better financial shape than before they entered, giving the appearance of only serving themselves, not us.

Then there is this final quote which seems better suited for President Grant but is attributed to you.

“Stop your nonsense and drink your whiskey!”

This might be good advice for all our elected officials on all levels but instead of whiskey, maybe they should take their medicine and start doing what is right for the country instead of their personal or party interests. After all, with the way they do things today it is “We the People” who need the whiskey to help dull the pain of their follies.

Thank for your time President Taylor

 

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco