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I'm a maximum-security ex-con who cannot vote, and as a
maximum-security ex-con I am deeply aware of the hypocrisy of
Republicans like Mr. Bush and the majority of the Supreme Court and
Congress who have presided over horrible, hateful prison practices
here in the United States while recently decrying those same
conditions and practices in their military prisons in Iraq (their true
anger is with the guy who took the pictures, and they gave him the
longest sentence, and to this day I don't think the idiot undestands
why).
Here in the United States, our predominately Republican judiciary
issues intellectually-insulting decisions regarding prisoners' rights
that place more value on order than humanity.
This is especially true regarding a state like Texas where this
nation's longest-running class-action lawsuit regarding prisoners'
rights was litigated, Ruiz v. Estelle, and where Mr. Bush was not
embarrassed enough to make any meaningful changes in those prison
conditions and practices while he was the Governor.
I see Mr. Bush and the Republicans as open fascists, and I have no
respect for their intellectual or moral integrity. I suspect that the
Republicans have acted in this country of ours in the same way that
they have directed the CIA to act in third-world countries where
elections have been rigged, opponents murdered, and atrocities
justified. I fear that we may still lack an elected President, and
perhaps that our political processes are now permanently corrupted.
Even so, while the possibility exists that our President, Mr. Bush,
was actually elected, then the social contract of a democracy requires
that we all obey the laws enacted by our democratically-elected
officials, no matter how loathesome those laws may seem if they are
not obviously and unequivocally evil.
That is our social contract in a democracy, and I must bear the burden
of proof if I am to allege that the Republicans have again corrupted
our institutions and perverted our processes to again rig an election
and appoint a king.
As a free citizen, even with no voting rights, I concede that I owe
respect for the laws of this government, and I will act accordingly,
even though I mistrust and despise it.
Very Respectfully,
Ray Donald Pratt
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