[My note: The author of this letter is an amazing America. You will always be welcome on my blog. ]

I have not been able to confirm the author of this letter

Written by a woman in New York. Think it echoes what most of us in New York

think and feel about the state of our country. After the letter was

published, the woman started receiving death threats.

Letter To The Red States:

Sorry, I try not to deluge people with my ramblings. But I had to write this

and, having written it, had to send it. Even though I don’t know anyone I

can send it to (without alienating my Republican in-laws, who are the only

“middle country” people I know.)

I am writing this letter to the people in the red states in the middle of

the country — the people who voted for George W. Bush. I am writing this

letter because I don’t think we know each other.

So I’ll make an introduction. I am a New Yorker who voted for John Kerry. I

used to live in California, and if I still lived there, I would vote for

Kerry. I used to live in Washington, DC, and if I still lived there, I would

vote for Kerry. Kerry won in all three of those regions.

Maybe you want to know more about me. Or maybe not; maybe you think you know

me already. You think I am some anti-American anarchist because I dislike

George W. Bush. You think that I am immoral and anti-family, because I

support women’s reproductive freedom and gay rights. You think that I am

dangerous, and even evil, because I do not abide by your religious beliefs.

Maybe you are content to think that, to write me off as a “liberal” — the

dreaded “L” word — and rejoice that your candidate has triumphed over evil,

immoral, anti-American, anti-family people like me. But maybe you are still

curious. So here goes: this is who I am.

I am a New Yorker. I was here, in my apartment downtown, on September 11th.

I watched the Towers burn from the roof of my building. I went inside so

that I couldn’t see them when they fell. I had friends who were inside. I

have a friend who still has nightmares about watching people jump and fall

from the Towers. He will never be the same. How many people like him do you

know? People that can’t sit in a restaurant without plotting an escape

route, in case it blows up?

I am a worker. I work across the street from the Citigroup Center, which the

government told us is a “target” of terrorism. Later, we found out they were

relaying very old information, but it was already too late. They had given

me bad dreams again. The subway stop near my office was crowded with

bomb-sniffing dogs, policemen in heavy protective gear, soldiers. Now, every

time I enter or exit my office, all of my possessions are X-rayed to make

sure I don’t have any weapons. How often are you stopped by a soldier with a

bomb-sniffing dog outside your office?

I am a neighbor. I have a neighbor who is a 9/11 widow. She has two

children. My husband does odd jobs for her now, like building bookshelves.

Things her husband should do. He uses her husband’s tools, and the two

little girls tell him, “Those are our daddy’s tools.” How many 9/11 widows

and orphans do you know? How often do you fill in for their dead loved ones?

I am a taxpayer. I worked my butt off to get where I did, and so did my

parents. My parents saved and borrowed and sent me to college. I worked my

way through graduate school. I won a full tuition scholarship to law school.

All for the privilege of working 2,600 hours last year. That works out to a

50 hour week, every week, without any vacation days at all. I get to work by

9 am and rarely leave before 9 pm. I eat dinner at my office much more often

than I eat dinner at home. My husband and I paid over $70,000 in federal

income tax last year. At some point in the future, we will have to pay much

more — once this country faces its deficit and the impossible burden of

Social Security. In fact, the areas of the country that supported Kerry —

New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts — they are the financial

centers of the nation. They are the tax base of this country. How much did

you pay, Kansas? How much did you contribute to this government you support,

Alabama? How much of this war in Iraq did you pay for?

I am a liberal. The funny part is, liberals have this reputation for living

in Never-Neverland, being idealists, not being sensible. But let me tell you

how I see the world: I see America as one nation in a world of nations.

Therefore, I think we should try to get along with other nations. I see that

gay people exist. Therefore, I think they should be allowed to exist, and be

treated the same as other people. I see ways in which women are not allowed

to control their own bodies. Therefore, I think we should give women more

control over their bodies. I see that people have awful diseases. Therefore,

I think we should enable scientists to try to cure them. I see that we have

a Constitution. Therefore, I think it should be upheld. I see that there

were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Therefore, I think that Iraq

was not an imminent danger to me. It seems so pragmatic to me. How do you

see the world? Do you really think voting against gay marriage will keep

people from being gay? Would you really prefer that people continue to die

from Parkinson’s disease? Do you really not care about the Constitutional

rights of political detainees? Would you really have supported the war if

you knew the truth, or would you have wanted to spend more of our money on

health care, job training, terrorism preparedness?

I am an American. I have an American flag flying outside my home. I love my

home more than anything. I love that I grew up right outside New York City.

I first went to the Statue of Liberty with my 5th grade class, and my mom

and dad took me to the Empire State Building when I was 8. I love taking the

subway to Yankee Stadium. I loved living in Washington DC and going on dates

to the Lincoln Memorial. It is because I love this country so much that I

argue with my political opponents as much I do.

I am not safe. I never feel safe. My in-laws live in a small town in Ohio,

and that town has received more federal funding, per capita, for terrorism

preparedness than New York City has. I take subways and buses every day. I

work in a skyscraper across the street from a “target.” I have emergency

supplies and a spare pair of sneakers in my desk, in case something happens

while I’m at work. Do you? How many times a month do you worry that your

subway is going to blow up? When you hear sirens on the street, do you run

to the window to make sure everything is okay? When you hear an airplane, do

you flinch? Do you dread beautiful, blue-skied September days? I don’t know

a single New Yorker who doesn’t spend the month of September on tip-toes,

superstitiously praying for rain so we don’t have to relive that beautiful,

blue-skied day.

I am lonely. I feel that we, as a nation, have alienated all our friends and

further provoked our enemies. I feel unprotected. Most of all I feel

alienated from my fellow citizens, because I don’t understand what you are

thinking. You voted for a man who started a war in Iraq for no reason,

against the wishes of the entire world. You voted for a man whose lack of

foresight and inability to plan has led to massive insurgencies in Iraq,

where weapons are disappearing into the hands of terrorists. You voted for a

man who let Osama Bin Laden escape into the hills of Afghanistan so that he

could start that war in Iraq. You voted for a man who doesn’t want to let

people love who they want to love; doesn’t want to let doctors cure their

patients; doesn’t want to let women rule their destinies. I don’t understand

why you voted for this man. For me, it is not enough that he is personable;

it is not enough that he seems like one of the guys. Why did you vote for

him? Why did you elect a man that lied to us in order to convince us to go

to war? (Ten years ago you were incensed when our president lied about his

sex life; you thought it was an impeachable offense.) Why did you elect a

leader who thinks that strength cannot include diplomacy or international

cooperation? Why did you elect a man who did nothing except run away and hide

on September 11?

Most of all, I am terrified. I mean daily, I am afraid that I will not

survive this. I am afraid that I will lose my husband, that I will never

have children, that I will never grow old and watch the sunset in a backyard

of my own. I am afraid that my career — which should end with a triumphant

and good-natured roast at a retirement party in 2035 — will be cut short by

an attack on me and my colleagues, as we sit sending emails and making phone

calls one ordinary afternoon. Is your life at stake? Are you terrified?

I don’t think you are. I don’t think you realize what you have done. And if

anything happens to me or the people I love, I blame you. I wanted you to

know that.

“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a

life.” – Arthur Ashe