In a letter written July 4, 1798, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt.”

As it was in Jefferson’s America, so it is in America today. The manipulation of threats from abroad by the Adam’s administration to seize powers beyond those permitted by the Constitution mirror those of the Bush administration over the last eight years.

We have been cunningly beguiled by men in government who nurture the belief that “government is the problem and not the solution.” Fear and deception were employed to thrust us into an unnecessary pre-emptive war and to whittle away our constitutional safeguards. The greedy conviction that deficits don’t matter has shackled us with a huge foreign debt; the bulk of which will take generations to repay.

We have truly been under a terrible spell these past 30 years, and more specifically the last eight. We were asked to believe that to keep our nation safe from those who would attack us it was permissible, and worse, acceptable to engage in the practice of torture; ignoring the principles of the Geneva Conventions, our Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

Today we wipe the cloudy film of fear and secrecy from our eyes, the darkness has been whisked away, and the restoration of our government has begun. As Jefferson continued in his letter: “we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost.”

Our luck has turned and the reign of witches has passed.

Rich Raitano

Long Beach