20160422 (letters)

I really don't know why I thought to write since the NSA probably already knows me better than my family.

So far in my life I’ve written

Two letters to the president of the

United States. I can’t document 

The first, back in 1951, when I

Defended development of the

Atomic bomb as essential to the 

Security of the country and sent

A copy to the Cleveland Press.

I wanted everyone to know what

Kind of smartass they were dealing

With so the last line of my letter

Read, “I’m only eight years old.” 

It was reprinted in the letters to 

The editor section, but for some 

Reason my parents thought I should

Lay low for a while. We weren’t the

Type to rattle the cage, rock the boat,

Or bathe in any notoriety lest guys in

Black suits with matching fedoras

Came snooping about looking for

The kid who knew about nuclear

Weapons. Needless to say (which

Itself is needless to say) there’s

Been a lot of history in the 

Intervening sixty-three years.

Let’s just say I’ve undergone a 

Complete reversal on our

Need for nuclear weapons (and 

Generally the need for any

War-making since I studied

What really happens to soldiers

In war). I don’t mean the part 

About their getting wounded or

Killed so much as their killing

And wounding others so often

Indiscriminately and without

Justification. I’m told, “That’s

War, kid. Now get the sand outta

Your vagina and stop bein’ such a 

Pussy.” I agree. That is war. Which

Is why I think we should no longer

Study it. As for the sand and the 

Lady parts at least I can be sure

He wasn’t watching me in the 

Shower. No. If you paid any

Attention to Vietnam the whole

Thing was a massive foul up

(Niced up at the last moment

For the sake of my younger 

Audience). I likewise came to see

Area bombing and its radical

Partner, atomic bombing, as a

Moral outrage that could have

And should have been avoided.

So now that I’ve grown something

Like a backbone in the antiwar

Assembly, I find I had to oppose

Mr. Obama’s plan to renew our

Nuclear weapons supply, diverting

A trillion dollars away from goods

And services to our own people

As well as from the possible good

We could do in the world instead:

April 20, 2016

The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I am in my 74th year and you are in the 7th year of your presidency. It is rather late for either of us to swing the nation’s policies totally around but I will try beginning with this appeal to you.

I am asking you in these final days of your holding the highest office in the land—which most regard as the most powerful position in the world—to review your announced policy to renew, refurbish, replenish our overwhelming stockpile of evil nuclear weapons. I call them evil, because to my mind and to those of many others including our Muslim “enemies,” Iran’s highest ayatollah has stated, “There is no moral way they can be used.” Wiping whole cities off the map is beyond human consideration—not that we haven’t been the pioneers in such acts.

Downgrading these devices or replacing them with smaller yield instruments will not make them any less evil—their fearsomeness lay in their ability to annihilate huge masses of an enemy as before indiscriminately—elderly, women, children, captives, even others who may hate us but have not threatened us.

I ask you to reverse your stand so that the projected expense of a trillion dollars over the next thirty years can be better invested in care for our own and advocacy of better lives for those in other countries searching for clean water, upgrades of medical facilities, non-fossil power.

Most respectfully,

James Stanley Manista

2908 Franklin Boulevard

Cleveland OH 44113

Should you feel inspired to 

Do the same, I encourage you

In that effort. The address appears

At the top of the letter and add

The “Most respectfully” at your

Signature. I’m told you should 

State your case without snark no

Matter how clever it may seem to

You at the time.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016