A COUNTRY FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE

A COUNTRY FOR THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE

God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” From Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

Lincoln Said It This Way 

The last sentence of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is: God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth.

I was wrong to think that we followed the same message; I cite a few examples. This is an example of misinterpreting Lincoln’s message.

I worked for the last ½ year trying to get an apology from Japan for its atrocities of World War II. Over 60 years have elapsed and tour government has done virtually nothing except a debate in Congress (recently) that lasted less than a day. I let you decide; are the people that Lincoln referred to to blame? Of course not…

I tried to get an apology applying two ideas in his speech, i.e. of the people and for the people.” Numerous E-mails and letters were sent within the United States and to Pacific countries.  All but perhaps two were answered by Washington; the others were not and follow-ups received the same treatment The VFW was ready to assist me and suddenly they stopped most likely as a result of a suggestion from the White House; Congress did nothing from the start. What I perceive to have been the goal of the White House was very effective; no replies, and no offers of assistance. Letters to the president and to his secretary produced nothing; not even an acknowledgment of the program.  He may have seen one or more but I have nothing to confirm even this. When this much power is applied to stop a program, it STOPS and that is what mine did. 

The irony of Washington’s interference is that it stopped a program to get an apology from Japan, it answered not one of my letters so one can interpret Washington’s lack of reaction as he chooses. One more thing, the population of Americans who live and survived the war years is dwindling fast and veterans of the war remain to be honored.

An apology is also needed to preserve history for younger generations, and, as you recall, the United States did win the war! There is a matter of pride involved; recently Japan offered an apology to a few Pacific countries but there were no takers for perhaps political and other reasons. It appears that we have been shy or indifferent.

When this subject is raised, some will say that the president is preoccupied with war in the mid-east; OK, how about the other 60+ years? In my book, preoccupation is not a valid excuse.

All those white crosses you see around the world are for Americans who were killed from WW-I, WW-II, Vietnam, and on and on. Each white cross is for a fallen comrade who wasn’t too busy to defend his country; most elected to undertake the job. Recently, I haven’t heard a politician speak about an apology. When a politician is pulled up short for some tasteless deed he might say: Well it was legal. So now has that become our criterion for judging politicians? I hope not.

Let me finish with a comment about the VFW: I believe they accepted a suggestion not to help me. Didn’t they realize the attempt to get an apology included them and recognized them as heroes?  There’s the power of a suggestion for you! 

Sincerely,
Robert W. Schneider
[email protected]
P.T. Boat Officer  WW-II  Philippines