A Prank, a Note and a Letter
The Lumberjack World Championship was held in Hayward the first weekend of August. As he usually does, the Congressman for the 7th district of Wisconsin, Sean Duffy and his entourage spent the time at the hotel I work at. On the last night of the event, one of my co-workers played a prank on me and told a Duffy staffer that I was a supporter of the congressman and wanted one of the shirts they were wearing. In an effort to remain professionally detached I did not say anything at that time. I got a t-shirt the next day and a different co-worker went, “Oh yeah, I forgot to give you this note” last night.
I am not able to allow them to continue in this misunderstanding, so this is the letter I will be mailing out today:
August 14, 2019
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hayward, WI 54843
(715) 699-xxxxThe Honorable Sean Duffy
1714 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515Dear Congressman,
During your recent stay at the Holiday Inn in Hayward WI I was one of the staff working the front desk at the hotel. On the last evening there, a co-worker of mine decided to play a prank on me and asked one of your people to give me a campaign shirt from the Lumberjack Championship. Your staff were very kind in their response so I did not say anything at the time. The next day I received the shirt when I arrived at work and now yesterday, I received a very kind note from you that, unfortunately for both of us, is based on a misconception of my beliefs.
I am sorry, sir, but I am not a supporter of the Republican party, it’s agenda and most certainly not of a person whom I believe is president only due to Acts of War against the United States of America by the Russian Federation. Rather I am a veteran of 16 years in the US Army receiving an honorable discharge during the era of the Clinton Draw-down, I am a devout Christian in the Episcopal Church and, perhaps most importantly to this discussion, I am a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. I am horrified by the direction of this country under what is becoming a historically fascist regime like those of Franco’s Spain and Pinochet’s Chile with all the violence, extra-judicial homicide and graft that implies. Meanwhile the ICE /Border Patrol has become a defacto “Secret State Police” or “Geheime Staatspolizei”, (AKA Gestapo) that is beholden only to the President and not to the laws or to the Constitution of these United States. Then there are the unbelievably incompetent economic policies forcing farmers into bankruptcy and suicide. The markets that the ignorance of tariffs have lost have been taken over by nations like Argentina and will never come back to American farmers.
In your generous note to me, you offer to send me rally shirts for an upcoming event. Since I can not support you at that rally, I can not in good faith cause you to waste the expenditure on me. Please pass the shirts on to those who legitimately support you.
Again, I thank you for your generous note. I will pray that your eyes are opened to the truth of the situations facing us all as Americans. I have spent my life in service to a greater cause than myself – that of this nation that was great until the accession of our undeniably racist president. I know that you too wish only the best for our nation and that, someday soon, you will reject the hate, the lies, the violence, the deceit and the graft emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Sincerely,
William Lewis
Just another day in paradise… :)