Published in The East Hampton Star

Re: Letter to the Editor – Morally Bankrupt?

Dear David:

Mr. Zeldin penned a letter in the aftermath of the Charlottesville tragedy. In it, our congressman extolled: “This is a day to be an American. … United.”

His call for “unity” is insulting. I have no interest in unifying with the KKK. I have no interest in unifying with racists pursuing a white supremacist “solution.” His call for unity is entirely one-sided: we Americans are supposed to embrace these groups in the name of “unity,” while they would kill us.

Now, he has taken to the air to wrongly align himself with Trump’s condemnation of those who stood up to the supremacists in Charlottesville. White supremacy or Nazism (or any like mindset) is an embodiment of evil. Likewise, equating Nazism with those opposing it is a moral outrage. Especially for Mr. Zeldin, who touts both his religion and being a veteran: he should reach back 70 years and visit the American cemeteries in Europe and count the thousands of American lives that were sacrificed to combat Nazism. His placating neo-Nazi white supremacists confers the ultimate insult upon those who lost fathers, mothers, sons or daughters in that struggle.

Why would our Congressman, given his religious and service background (which he readily brandishes for political purposes), ask us to embrace this unfettered criminality? His letter should have urged us to reject, unabashedly, everything the white supremacist faction represents. Rather, he chose to parrot Mr. Trump by also casting blame on those who opposed this evil. There is only one side deserving of blame.

His craven letter and press statements expose exactly what is behind it: political opportunism to pander to the far right, which the GOP sees as its base and in need of constant coddling. That Mr. Zeldin would cast aside personal integrity in blind obeisance to Trump’s bellicosity and the overarching GOP design is, in itself, sufficient reason to reject unequivocally the notion that he is qualified to represent which is truly America.

Sincerely,

Carol O’Rourke