YOUR SPEECH

6 June, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Your speech

I note from an article in the Orange County newspaper, the Daily Pilot, that you gave a speech for the Southern California Silent Majority a couple of days ago. The article made much of the absence of protest—but I suggest this was because the event was not widely publicized in your district. I, at least, was not aware of it.

Sadly, too, those who take other views than yours would likely not have been made to feel welcome at this event. Some 200 constituents attended, it was noted in the article, and your speech was well received. I’d like to point out, however, that you must have received a very false impression of the popularity of your positions from this select group of listeners. There are many of us out here who do not support them, and would like very much to have the opportunity to have our voices heard.

The quotation from your speech was quite brief: “We are proud Americans,” you are reported to have said, “and we are grateful to have a president watching out for our country. Finally, we have a president who supports American principles.”

Really? A president watching out for our country? It seems to me—and a majority of Americans—that, to judge from his actions, pronouncements and plans, this president* is watching out first for himself and his family, and then for his fellow billionaires. The country you say he is watching for has been sadly diminished in the eyes of the world. As for his support for “American principles,” I’ll have to address that in another letter. We need to examine exactly which “principles” he supports.

A final note, for the moment: the newspaper reports than “the crowd cheered” when you said you were glad that the president* turned down the “rotten”—your word—Paris Accord. Your crowd is a very small one. The rest of the world was appalled at this arrogant and unnecessary gesture.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.