Dear Editor:

As a child I was impressed when they added “One nation, under God” to our pledge of allegiance. I believed that meant everyone in America believed and honored the golden rule — treating others as they would want to be treated.

Later I learned that the golden rule was endorsed by all religions as a component of their moral and ethical teachings. Naively I separated morality from ethics as if one meant blessed by God and the other meant blessed by man. Alas, research has confirmed that ethics are the same as morals. They are both an expected behavior of one to another.

So what has happened to America? Evidence says we have changed. We are justifying bully treatment of the poor in California while leaving bank and Wall-street executives blameless, even when they confess fraudulent behavior. Where in the founding fathers constitutional work did it give license to those behaviors as well as license to torture? We signed 1935-94 international treaties, and torture was outlawed as unacceptable behavior. We ignored the federalist papers warning: “Even the ardent love of liberty will, give way to fear’s dictates.”

Most people are unaware our constitutional rights, moral and ethical expectations have been eroding. Changes were without common knowledge or legislative votes — only memos. For unequal justice based on wealth it was a memo referred to as “collateral damages.” For torture, Schlesinger concluded, “No position taken has done more damage to the American reputation in the world ever.” It was a secret “blue sky memo” written during the Cheney-Bush years. Once written, the memos were followed by elected and appointed officials and were incorporated into enforcement of our laws.

It is likely that America’s majority still value the golden rule and work hard to maintain moral and ethical behaviors. Yet the laws and regulations resulting from these two memos have licensed jailing a person who can’t pay their parking ticket and not prosecuting the confessed billion dollar executive thief. It is time to examine our legal system and turn the rudder back to its original direction of fair judicial treatment.

Jarryl Larson

Edgecomb