To Whom It May Concern:
I honestly can't understand why anyone who lives in such a beautiful place as Vermont, as well as the best country in the entire world, could be so absolutely ungrateful for that fact. Your lack self-respect & respect for others demonstrates this to the world Brattleboro & Vermont, with your un-American Indictment Petition! If you honestly believe that Our President & Vice President are doing so badly, then how in the world could you go to such socially irresponsible & outrageous lengths to make their jobs [serving you wretches!] so much the harder? Why in the world would either of them want to do their best for this country when people like you refuse to leave it? You may not have voted for them during either election, but you as American citizens have the responsibility to support your your country anyway. U.S. citizens like you are the reason why people across the globe look down on the rest of us. You should be embarrassed & ashamed! I'm embarrassed & ashamed to have to admit that you are my fellow countrymen.
Your city & chamber websites advertise that you want to encourage people to move to Brattleboro & Vermont, so I'm also sending this email to some of your chamber people, media & realtors to let them know what REAL AMERICANS think of your stunt.
You could learn a lot from former President of these great United States, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt. And our current President is one who has taken these to heart. I'm absolutely positive that George W. Bush wishes that he could go back in time & make changes to his presidency so he doesn't need you to make his job even harder than it already is!
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
“The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything.”
“There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 % Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else.”
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
“I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!”
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
"Be Americans, pure and simple! If you don't act on the theory that every man who in good faith assumes the duties and responsibilities of an American citizen in a spirit of true Americanism is an American, and is to be treated as such, ...you are yourselves unfit to take part in managing our government and you are bound to make a failure if you try to better the condition of our cities."
"There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother."
And while “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.” is absolutely correct, the route that Battleboro has chosen to demonstrate their critism is morally reprehensible!
Maybe some of the quotes from other noted & widely respected leaders will help you learn to be better & more responsible citizens of the United States if you look up the stories behind these quotes. If you don't agree with the leaders below, maybe you'll agree with some of the quotes from the others listed.
For Battleboro:
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." Benjamin Franklin
“The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.” George McGovern
“Americanism consists in utterly believing in the principles of America.” Woodrow T. Wilson
“Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.” Calvin Coolidge
“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group,” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” Winston Churchill
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Winston Churchill
“It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.” Winston Churchill
“There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.” Winston Churchill
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." J.F.K.
Regarding our President:
“The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake - you can't learn anything from being perfect.” Adam Osborne
“One of the first things a President learns is that everything he says weighs a ton.” Calvin Coolidge
“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read "President Can't Swim” Lyndon B. Johnson
“I would rather have peace in the world than be president” Harry Truman
“Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“It's a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead - and find no one there” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Very few of the great leaders ever get through their careers without failing, sometimes dramatically.” Phillip Crosby
"Oh, that lovely title, ex-president." Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." J.F.K.