Rabbi Waskow on Bush at Monticello

A Letter to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation

George W. Bush has replicated more of the ill deeds charged by the Declaration of Independence against King George III than any other President in our history. He is the first President to claim that torture is legitimate and to proclaim that he is violating the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution (requiring warrants to examine citizen's communications).

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration precisely to resist that kind of usurpation of power. To invite Mr. Bush to speak on the Fourth of July at Monticello makes a travesty of that sacred day and the sacred work of Mr. Jefferson. I have strongly urged the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to withdraw the invitation.

With joy in the blessings of freedom,

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Ph. D., director, The Shalom Center
http://www.shalomctr.org