I grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina, just a stone’s throw from the Atlantic coast.  The following letter to the editor appeared in The Jacksonville Daily News, and I think it bears repeating.

To the editor:

Last night I had an epiphany. The great Barack Obama will part the waters of this financial sea and lead us all to prosperity. He will heal the sick and insure the able-bodied and their children. I will be able to join the rank and file of the Obamaites and worship with them en masse - almost like those believers in the 1930s in Germany.

I saw huge crowds of glassy-eyed believers marching in step with a man of little substance but great charisma telling us all the good things we want to hear. He will take from the rich scoundrels and redistribute that wealth to those who cannot or will not work for or support their country.

The great Obama will cast aside those whose guidance he sought in his early years and become the messiah we have all prayed for. He will stop all wars, personally find Osama bin Laden and heal this country with his eloquent speeches - even though he lacks leadership experience.

He will correct all the evils and cast out the sins of the Bush administration. We will all receive rose-colored glasses and drink from the well of happiness; never again will we want. No wife will ever be battered again, no child abused or uneducated. The homeless, the criminal, the insane will be allowed to vote Democratic whether they are eligible or not.

I realize John McCain probably doesn’t have those qualities. I mean, his grandfather was a distinguished admiral, his father a distinguished admiral; John McCain himself was a captain in the Navy and decorated Vietnam prisoner of war, squadron commander and U.S. senator with years of experience.

Now, as for the Great Obama, he has a background of being the son of a man who had many children by various women and a mother that was a free spirit flitting around the world. Barry, as he was known, is now Barack and blessed as the savior of our country. His use of drugs as a youth must have given him insight that those of us who didn’t do drugs will never have. I’m especially proud the media hasn’t dug into or highlighted his past and that the Hollywood heroes have all thrown their support behind him while vilifying McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin. That would only tarnish the great Obama and cause some people to really think before they vote.

Uh-oh, I’m awake! That was no epiphany; it was a nightmare. Please, people, compare the records of McCain and Obama - their personal records, their experience and past indiscretions. McCain and Palin are not the dolts that the national media is doing its best to portray them as. Four years will be a long time to regret your decision.

Tommy Thompson

Jacksonville

You wouldn’t think those words would be necessary in Jacksonville, North Carolina.  As home of Camp Lejeune, one of the largest (if not the largest) amphibious military bases in the world and home of the “Expeditionary Forces of Readiness” people in Jacksonville of all places should understand the gravity of this election.  With no member of the community untouched by the costs of war, it would be reasonable to assume they wouldn’t support a guy who said our troops were air raiding villages and killing civilians or dying in vain.  But the costs and utter exhaustion caused by the war are high, and military families can’t escape the economic crisis either.  Military towns find times especially difficult, as they aren’t just hurt by low stock prices, low home prices and frozen credit, but at any given time hundreds of normal participants of the local economy are overseas.

The anguish and exhaustion of the war has given rise to the “glassy-eyed believers” who so desperately want relief.  Unfortunately, their blind hope is misplaced.  Its utterly ridiculous to think a guy with no experience, socialist tendencies, and radical ties will be the Savior to calm all our ills.  Studying history is not just an academic exercise, we actually learn from the past.  And when you look at Obama’s past, the potential problems of his candidacy are apparent.  He has never shown he has the judgment or integrity to lead.

As Mr. Thompson pleads, everyone needs to pay attention to the history of both men.  There won’t be any do-overs or second chances.  “Four years is a long time to regret your decision.”