The Mythic Past and a Local Hero

To the Editor:

I read the words of the author of “The Mythic Past” letter last week with some regret. Then what should appear on the facing page but the obituary of Otto Fuchs. I was struck by the dichotomy of the two views of America appearing almost side by side before me. The author of “The Mythic Past” lectured us on the sins of America’s past and warned us that focusing on what was good about America’s past is fascism. Then I read the obituary of Otto Fuchs who died at the age of 97. Otto knew what real fascism is. He risked his life fighting real fascism in the Battle of the Bulge so that the author could have the freedom to disparage America. Like many others of that generation Otto came home to serve his community well for the rest of his life and build a better and free-er America for all.

The author wants a balanced approach to history. You want to talk about slavery, segregation, and women’s suffrage. Fine. Then let’s look at just a few examples of more recent history too. There were riots in the summer of 2020 when looting and burning were allowed and even encouraged. Anyone objecting to the anarchy was called racist. We are now expected to accept biological men competing with biological women in sports. How fair is that to women? Parents are being told that the state can encourage their children to pretend to be a gender other than the gender of their birth and not inform the parents. In other words the government wants to raise our children. This is the same government that tells us the nation’s borders are secure even as millions of people enter our country illegally each year.

Who is the fascist? The one who tries to divide us along lines of race, gender, sexual orientation, climate change, ad nauseam, or the one who tries to unite us based on faith in God and the courage and sacrifice of those who came before us? On which “mythic past” do you want to build? That of the author or that of Otto Fuchs?As for me, I will choose the past of Otto Fuchs.