Wednesday, April 11, 2001

Compare and contrast:

"Who the author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the Public, as the Object for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with any Party, and under no sort of influence, public or private, but the influence of reason and principle." Or:

"After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting Federal Government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America." To:

"I want to condemn Delta pilot Russell Switzer for his fine example of the ALPA mentality." Or how about:

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Or:

"A torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations, and by the bitterness of their invectives." To:

"I would be willing to bet that every hour in your flight log was paid for by taxpayers of the customers of Delta."

Now recall your footnote of April 4. "As an aside, the great debates about adopting the U.S. Constitution featured many 'anonymous' letter writers, who also happened to be some of the leading patriots of the Revolutionary era."

Many of you will recognize the words of Thomas Paine from "Common Sense" and "The American Crisis," and the words of Alexander Hamilton as Publius from Federalist One. And since you obviously read The Citizen, you probably recognize the cowardly attack on Russ Switzer in particular, and military and Delta pilots in general by someone who refuses to divulge their identity.

Last week, another of these brave individuals wrote in, telling us he is a retired flight instructor, and then giving some strange explanation about the degradation of hand-flying skills, with of course no hard data to back it up, and the assertion that 85 percent of us would stay on the job, even though 97 percent of us voted to authorize a strike. Is this guy an Eastern scab? What's his agenda? Is he even a pilot?

I'm sorry, I just don't get it. Thomas Paine fought with Washington's army all the way across Long Island, the loss of Fort Washington, and the retreat across New Jersey. Alexander Hamilton was almost reckless in battle, and lost his life in a duel in which he may very well have deliberately fired his weapon into the ground. Both assumed anonymity to expound a political discourse that was to affect the nation and the world. Their purpose was to take personality out of the discussion and concentrate on the ideas.

How can this paper mention them in the same breath as the gutless wonders who send their opinion to this paper, but want anonymity from the public?

Timothy J. Parker

Timsueparker@cs.com

A Delta pilot

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