This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The following letter was sent to people who contacted the Mayor's office regarding his participation in the anti-war rally in Pioneer Park on August 22nd.
September 21, 2005
To Whom It May Concern:
I appreciate your writing or calling to express your opinion regarding my participation at the rally coinciding with President Bush's visit to Salt Lake City last month. Strong feelings have been expressed about the issues addressed at the rally, and about the appropriateness of my involvement in the rally.
The rally was a peaceful, healthy, enthusiastic gathering of people who care deeply about our great nation - and who are genuinely concerned about the direction in which our nation is headed under the Administration of George W. Bush. Speaking out in this manner, particularly in a way that will most effectively be communicated to the rest of our nation, to the world, and to the President and Congress, is the way a democracy is supposed to work. For free speech to be restrained, for people to be afraid or made to feel ashamed to speak out, is more the sign of a tyranny than a free society.
Those who referred to my participation in the rally as "unpatriotic," "rude," or "inhospitable", or those who disparaged the thousands of good people who participated in the rally as "nutcakes," fail to distinguish between a theocracy and a democracy. President Bush works for us. He is answerable to us. In a healthy, open democracy, an insistence upon respect for the office of President can never trump the right and duty of all of us to speak out when we perceive that the President is abusing his power and taking our country on a destructive course.
Senator Hatch, certain members of the Salt Lake City Council, and the Deseret News editorial writers, as well as those who have written or called to question my "patriotism," might gain a more profound sense of what patriotism really is from Theodore Roosevelt, who said, "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Senator Hatch called those at the rally "nutcakes" - apparently a new word coined on the spot, combining the words "nutcase" and "fruitcakes". To whom was he referring, in addition to Salt Lake City's mayor? Over two thousand of Senator Hatch's constituents took time during the middle of the day to participate in the rally, including several veterans (including one esteemed member of our business community who proudly wore the green beret from his service in the Special Forces), doctors, lawyers, architects, religious leaders (including a Jewish rabbi and a Unitarian minister), teachers, students, working people, and parents of young men who have recently died in Iraq. The dismissive use of a belittling term for these good people - people who care so deeply about our country and about our troops - is the opposite of what we should expect of a United States Senator - or of any leader. Let us debate the merits of the issues and refrain from petty name-calling. (Having said that, I must note that Senator Hatch has been a good, effective friend of Salt Lake City and of me personally in many respects.)
Although none of the media reported it, the large crowd at the rally cheered loudly when I called upon them to express our support for our troops and for veterans who have sacrificed so much for our remarkable freedoms. It is clear to those who attended the rally that our troops have been unnecessarily put in harm's way by a President who failed to tell us the truth about why he was taking our country to war and a Congress that abrogated its constitutional responsibility by handing to the President its war-making powers. We now know that intelligence was manipulated to reach the result desired by President Bush and his advisors - and that the factual assertions made by President Bush in justifying a war in Iraq were false. We want the truth - about why we are in Iraq, about how we are going to get our young men and women out of Iraq, and how the US is going to be better off, rather than be less safe and secure, because of President Bush's war.
My remarks at the Pioneer Park rally addressed more than the tragic war in Iraq. I spoke about the total absence of fiscal responsibility by President Bush and the Republican Congress, who have frittered away the Clinton surplus of billions of dollars and built up enormous, historic deficits - all while members of President Bush's ultra-wealthy class were given huge tax cuts, and Vice-President Cheney's friends at Halliburton have ripped us off for billions of dollars.
I spoke about my love for our city - and of how furious I am at the President's disdain for our cities and those who live in them. President Bush seeks to weaken, and in some instances destroy, long-time programs that have been of immense benefit to our cities, like the Community Development Block Grant Program, Community Oriented Police programs, and Local Law Enforcement Grant funding. Also, 120 fewer families in Salt Lake City will have access to Section 8 affordable housing thanks to recent Bush administration policies.
I spoke about President Bush's demonstrated contempt for working people, reflected in his opposition to an increase in the minimum wage, which is lower in buying power today than the minimum wage in 1955. I also talked about the outsourcing of good jobs to other nations due to Bush's trade policies, creating an even greater chasm between the very wealthy (i.e. George Bush and Dick Cheney's classmates) and the middle class and poor in our country. As I said in my presentation, "Those of us who believe that government ought to be of the people, by the people, and for the people - and not just run by and for the benefit of Halliburton and the rest of the very wealthy - we've got a message here today: 'We're not going to take it any more!'"
Among the other issues addressed at the rally: The continued refusal by President Bush to join the rest of the industrialized world (except Australia) in the Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming. The status quo energy policy, perpetuating the dependence on foreign oil sources and ignoring the environmental devastation resulting from reliance upon fossil fuels. The storage of high-level nuclear waste at the Goshute Reservation near Salt Lake City and the transport of nuclear waste through our city to Yucca Mountain. The hostility to equal rights for gays and lesbians. The incursions on our civil liberties in the Patriot Act. The torture of prisoners in violation of Army regulations and international law.
So, according to a United States Senator, a newspaper editorial board, and a number of vocal critics of my participation in the rally, only support of the status quo or complacency is "patriotic." Their view is that I should have had the decency to just keep quiet. That's not going to happen. As Elie Weisel said, "There are times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." As the Salt Lake Tribune said in this connection, we not only have the right to raise our voices; it is our duty.
Thanks again for writing or calling. Please join us for another, even larger, rally on September 24 at noon at the City & County Building (with some people gathering at 11 a.m. at Pioneer Park for an 11:30 march to the City & County Building). Be counted among the thousands of people in the Salt Lake City area who are deeply troubled about the direction in which our nation is headed and who exercise their citizenship, moral authority, and leadership in speaking up and acting on their deeply-held convictions.
Best regards,
Ross C. Anderson Mayor