The following is a letter to the editor that appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch on May 24, 2001. What follows is a response written by Mike. Editor, Times Dispatch: It is upsetting to see that our nation was founded on the morals of God but now has slipped so far away. We started as a nation with few problems, but that has changed. George Washington started this nation right. We had very few national problems. Today the list is extensive - drugs, abortions, economic failures, school violence, and the dishonesty of public officials. Why did we have a nation without problems? It was the result of believing in God. When God comes first, everything else falls into place. The people actually took a stand for God and weren't ashamed of taking a back seat and letting things fall out of line. We never used to have school violence. Prayer was taken out of schools; evil and violence took its place. Parents aren't being parents anymore! They are letting the kids rule. It's obvious that people aren't standing for the God Who gave them life. They are failing. We have young teens pregnant, drugs dealt in middle schools, and vile language echoing through elementary halls. Take a stand before it is too late! Our excessive freedoms have brought our nation further down morally. If leaders and parents would take their stand and set the example, then once again we would be a peaceful nation. -Tiffany Beck, Age 13. Chesterfield. Editor, Times Dispatch: I was saddened to see the recent letter by a young girl who, invoking George Washington’s heroic name, claims that he was a religious crusader and that our nation is morally corrupt because of “excessive freedom.” Has our education system sunk so low? Has the girl never had a single class in secular history? Shame on those who fed her this revisionist propaganda! Remember the Dark Ages of history’s Inquisitions, you adults who would once again raise the pious voice of intolerant dogmatism! Somebody please lend the girl a copy of the Diary of Anne Frank, that she may see the actual moral corruption of a culture opposed to man’s rights, and maybe someday come to know the moral ideal of excessive freedom. -Mike Nimchek. Richmond