Letter from J. Bracken Lee to President Ronald Reagan, February 9, 1982

              FEBRUARY 8, 1982
Dear President Reagan:
An illness caused my delay in replying to your letter of January 18,
I ask your understanding in this matter.
I am honored that you would ask me to join with you in making sacrifices
for your efforts to save our Country. I have known you and listened
to you on many occasions. I have always supported you in the past
and wish you continued success to the fullest degree.
If I did not express my views I would be less than honest. I think
some answers are now necessary from you for those Americans who
believe in our Constitutional government and the justice it guarantees
to its people.
I have agreed with many things you have tried to do and some of the
successes you achieved. Frankly, I would rather you failed than to
permit Congress and some of your advisors talk you out of representing the people who have trusted you to be the kind of a Leader
they expected when they voted for you.
As an illustration, you have asked the people to support and sacrifice
with you to regain justice and freedom. Then you defend those in
government who have betrayed their trust which they took when they
went into office and swore to defend and support our Constitution.
I do not believe you or anyone else can get the support of our
people until it has been earned.
Leaders must be willing to keep their word and set an example of
honesty in order to gain the respect people must have for them.
I, for one, and I know the majority of voters will not sacrifice
when they see the majority of their leaders raise their own salaries
and then have the nerve to eliminate the payment of income taxes
on that salary. If ordinary taxpayers did not pay those same
taxes they would be put in jail.
This kind of discrimination has almost destroyed our government.
Our government was founded for all of the people, not just the leaders.
I do not believe it would have caused you much trouble if you had
taken the guilty ones to task in your recent talk with Congress and
before the American people who listened to you on radio and
television. Yet, you ignored entirely the action of the IRS and
the salaries of the Congressmen.
In addition, I suggest you ask your Attorney General for an opinion
on the constitutionality of giving federal funds to towns, cities
and states; the legality of the so-called foreign aid as well as
loans to private businesses.