PEACE ISN'T BEST ACHIEVED THROUGH GUNS OR VIOLENCE

To the editor:

In H.L. Mencken's Minority Report, he states that "most people want
security in this world, not liberty," and it appears that he may be
right. But these words remind me of the words Benjamin Franklin once
said, "Those who would sacrifice a little freedom for temporal safety
deserve neither to be safe or free."

People criticize others for their "blind hate for our president and
national security during wartime in American history" as did Charlie
Cardenas in the Jan. 29, 2006, edition of The Monitor. This "War on
Terror" is not a war. It is equivalent to the "War on Drugs." You
kill some cartels and other, more violent cartels will replace them.
The same applies to the "War on Terror": the more people the U.S.
kills, the more martyrs are created to fuel the cause. Guns don't
bring peace; the civility of man to think, reason, and apply these to
the political front as the weapon of choice will bring peace. If
anyone desires a place of security, and not freedom, try China. I
hear they have a great system as such running well over there.

Plato once said, "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act
responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." The
truth speaks loud in action and it is quickly becoming evident that
President Bush and his cronies are "bad people." People can verbally
attack President Bush all they want. People can verbally attack those
people who verbally attack President Bush all they want. Let me say
this, peace doesn't exist in a world where people are constantly
attacking one another.

Andres Martinez,

Weslaco