On Jan. 15, I read in The Salem News that you have asked voters from various backgrounds about which issues are most important to us, and for whom they are more likely to vote. That question left me with only two candidates, Joe Biden or Donald Trump.
First of all, let me tell you a little bit about my background. I am 62, unemployed due to a medical disability, but well-educated, having received a masters degree in political science from Boston College in 1987, and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in 1984, after double majoring in international relations and economics. Therefore, I am very interested and concerned about the election this year.
Having already seen the sloppy job that Trump did during his first term, I will certainly vote against him, and for Joe Biden, if both of them are nominated for election this year. I made this decision in response to Trump’s political inexperience, his lack of an educational background in politics, and all the legal troubles in which he has entangled himself, before, during, and after that first term. This decision was confirmed after what I saw on Jan. 6, 2021, slightly more than one year ago. As a result, I firmly believe that he is constitutionally disqualified from running for president this year. Therefore, his name must be removed from the ballot, so that no one else will have the opportunity to decide to vote for him.
Both my decision to vote against Trump, and to prevent anyone else from doing so, should be clearly seen by anyone who has had any education in basic political history, which he obviously does not. Prior to my education in political and economic affairs, I learned this, in my basic course on American history, during my junior year in high school. Roughly 44 years later, I still have the very same textbook. Thus, I can quote from Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, that:
“No person shall be a be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by vote of two thirds of each house, remove such disability.”
This amendment has been part of the basic law of the United States since it was ratified in 1868, roughly three years after the end of the Civil War. At that time, it was written and ratified in order to prevent anyone, such as any Confederate military officers who, after “having previously taken an oath … as an officer of the United States … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection against the same.”
Thus, at that time, it applied to a large number of former Confederate officers, such as Gen. Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Confederate armies, as well as Gen. Stonewall Jackson, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. Joseph Johnston, and Gen. Jeb Stuart, all of whom had served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War.
In particular, Lee had played a significant role in that war, during which he led American forces to a major victory at Buena Vista in 1847. Lee was a famous officer who had played a major role in successfully freeing the state of Texas, and a great deal of the Southwestern United States, including all of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, as well as parts of Arizona, Wyoming, and Colorado. Subsequently, he had gone on to serve in the 1850s as the superintendent of the West Point United States Military Academy.
Lee had clearly demonstrated his military abilities at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, while leading the forces of the United States against “the enemies thereof.” Three years later, he again demonstrated those abilities when he “engaged in an insurrection against the same” United States. In doing so, he revealed that he was more loyal to the state of Virginia than he was to the United States, by fighting for the separation of Virginia and the rest of the Confederacy from the United States. After the Confederate forces were defeated in 1865, the United States has repeatedly demonstrated our response to the treasonous deeds of former leaders of the United States who led an insurrection…
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