Commentary by Ron Fink

Recently the Lompoc Record reported that the regional management of the U.S. Postal Service caved in to the delusional ranting of a self-confessed atheist and removed from the lobby a poster with the American flag above the words &#8220God Bless America.C

This is yet another example of political correctness gone amok. Why can/t people just stand up and say, &#8220I am not going to take it anymoreC?

But, Matt Hughes, self-appointed political correctness guru and perpetrator of this travesty, needs a lesson in how to protest effectively. Real protestors suffer some public pain, like going on a hunger strike, getting arrested or sitting in a tree for weeks on end to make their points.

Of course, he didn/t do this; he just walked into the post office and made his demands, which were summarily rejected by the local staff, as they should have been. In the true American spirit, the supervisor on duty told him to get lost and said, &#8220It's not coming down!C

Now, this is the kind of spirit I can appreciate. Not happy with this response, Hughes hen wormed his way up the food chain and contacted the postmaster.

The First Amendment to our Constitution was the faulty basis of his complaint and it reads in part: &#8220Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.C In this case, there was no law made and his claim that the post office is a government facility is faulty, since the post office was privatized by the Congress in 1971.

His claim that because the first letter in &#8220GodC was capitalized it referred to a specific god is also flawed. This was the first word in the phrase, and in America, we capitalize the first word of phrases and sentences, maybe Mr. Hughes and the post office hierarchy didn/t know that.

But, it seems that the farther up the food chain you get, the more likely you are to find someone who is weak in the knees. Seemingly passing the buck, the local postmaster had to get help from the &#8220regional authorityC and subsequently reversed the decision of the local supervisor and ordered the poster removed.

Ironically, the poster had been hanging on a wall above the customer service area since 2001. So, for five years, no one complained until Mr. Hughes took it upon himself to &#8220protectC the public from &#8220the name of some people's deity.C

If he were serious about his dislike of the word &#8220GodC appearing on anything associated with the government, perhaps he should throw all his money away. &#8220In God We TrustC appears on every coin and bill in his pocket, therefore he should cleanse himself to remain pure to his cause. Or, perhaps he could have hoisted himself up on the post office flagpole for several weeks so that people could have a chance to tell him what they thought.

Of course, like so many protestors, he is really just a hypocrite whose primary goal was irritating 99.99 percent of the people who do not agree with him. It seems that a small minority of whiners and complainers has come to rule our nation, and that/s definitely not what the founders of the United States intended.

The Constitution embraces freedom of religion and only stipulates that &#8220Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.C How this statement became the basis for removing the word &#8220God,C and this poster from public view is incomprehensible and requires some twisted logic.

If the local postmaster had any common sense or loyalty to the people of the community he/she serves, they would put the poster back up in the post office lobby where it belongs and tell Mr. Hughes that &#8220we/ll see you in courtC!

God bless America.

Ron Fink is a longtime Lompoc resident and a community activist.

September 19, 2006