Conversation with The President ....

Thirty years ago a young boy in California became interested in politics, world events and most importantly in writing down not just his own thoughts and beliefs but also in trying to discover what others thought ... especially others already involved in politics, policy making and governmental affairs.

Thus began a journey which would see him write letter after letter to senators, representatives, presidents cabinet members and other political and government leaders. In his letters he would ask what their views on subjects ranging from the then Vietnam War to health care, from personal questions regarding their free-time activities to their thoughts about sports, music, movies and almost every aspect of life in America.

In all the years between 1969 and 1979 he learned all he could and in fact he was at one point in his life nick-named "The Senator" (among others not to be mentioned here) due to his intense interest in all things political and of course his stated occupational goal of one day being an elected official.

In 1980 he entered the military service and for the next 10 years, 4 months and 2 days served on active duty in the United States Air Force ... much of that time spent serving in foreign countries.

Even through those years he still maintained an intense interest in political events and affairs ... and an interest that he still lives and breathes to this very day.

He has also been throughout his entire life an avid student of history... the history of mankind; the history of people ... especially in how people relate to each other ... to their governments ... and how those governments relate in turn with each other and with every person as well.

As i have grown from that young boy into my now middle-aged hood, the greatest change i have found in all that time is the attitudinal change that has taken place in the people whose job it is to keep all of us informed of the important things, the surprising things, and even simple and mundane things ... the journalist.

After giving this subject a great deal of thought i have come up with the answer i believe fits the question of who is to blame for the shift in focus and attitude among so many members of the American press corps towards their own government, their own country ... the country from where they derive not only their living but also the only country that guarantees complete and total freedom for them to do their jobs ...

The answer is .... Richard M. Nixon.

Yes ... i believe it all comes back to rest on his drooped yet uplifted (with hands in the ever-famous twin "V for Victory" wave) shoulders.

President Nixon was the first president i ever wrote to and from 1969 to 1975 i sent many letters his way asking all sorts of questions and he always had a letter sent back .... i admired him for his opening of China back then and also for his handling of the Soviet Union ... BUT it is still HIS FAULT that we have the situation we have now.

Mr. Nixon was many things to many people and not all of them were good. Even at the young age of 10 as i was in 1971 i knew that he could be charming and yet he also had this unequaled ability to attract the scathing wrath and ire of a journalist as easy as a dog attracts fleas. in general they hated him and he of course hated them right back ... in fact i think he hated them even more than they did him and i know from watching him interact with them and from some of my personal questions to him that it was always a point of honor with him to NEVER back away ... NEVER give in ... and NEVER EVER let them EVER think they had won or beat him down.

My personal favorite president also had his share of "bad press" ... as a young man growing up in Northern California i knew a lot about Ronald Reagan even before he made himself a household name in the mid-seventies ...

It was my very great privilege to not only serve in the military under his presidency but also to personally meet him on numerous occasions both personal and business. He was an extremely good listener ... and questioner ... and on those occasions when it was a personal chat you could tell that he truly was interested in YOUR thoughts and ideas ... and the press hated him as well.

It always pained me to read or hear or see so many American journalists belittle, ridicule and demean him both behind his back and also to his face. and yet he never quit doing what it was he felt was the right thing to do ... the right things for America ... for our future and even for those who despised him so vehemently.

Today as i write this i wish it to be a message of hope to our latest "hated" President

Mr. President ... i know you probably get a lot of advice from folks who write you and i also know that a lot of it is probably stuff you already know or already heard but as my wise father once said to me ... "Son ... you can never hear good advice too many times" and so i wish to give you what i think is good advice.

The first piece of advice is a quote from another president who also spoke at great lengths regarding freedom and liberty and doing the right thing no matter the obstacles:

"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." - Abraham Lincoln

Secondly i would ask you to remember the words of the one man who in my humble opinion saved all of humanity by sheer force of will during World War Two ... British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill .... in a speech to the students at his alma mater, the Harrow School in 1941 ...

"Never give in, never give in, --never, never, never, never,-- in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. "

and later at the ending of that same speech ...

"Do not let us speak of darker days; let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days -- the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must thank God that we hace been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race."

and while he was speaking to the British people then, i firmly believe that these words are just as true ... just as accurate ... and just as appropriate to be spoken of we the American people in the year 2005.

The third piece of advice i would like to give you Mr. President is this:

"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have." -- Ronald Reagan

The fourth piece of advice comes from the man i consider to be the wisest of all i have ever known ... my father Franklin L. Hicks, Senior, who always reminded me that "you can never go wrong if you always do the right thing.".

In closing Mr. President, i leave you with a few thoughts and words of my own ...

Doing the right thing may never be popular, and there will always be lots and lots of other people who will not like you no matter what you do or how you do it ... the thing to remember about all that is that -- it really just doesn't matter if they do or if they don't ...

As long as you can look those who depend on you to do the right thing squarely in the eye and say as did the aspotle Paul "i have fought the good fight, i have finished the race, i have kept the faith" you will always be a winner.

Freedom and liberty are not free gifts ... someone must struggle and fight and bleed and die on occasion to ensure that others may live to enjoy those things ... It was my greatest joy in life to be a member of the United States Air Force for 10 years .... to serve alongside some of the best human beings ever born ... and i know that today despite all our shortcomings that our best, brightest, and bravest still serve ... proudly standing on the lonely outposts guarding and protecting our way of life ... our liberty and our pursuit of happiness ...

today's special thanks to our military go out to:

United States Air Force - 6th Air Mobility Wing, MacDill AFB, Florida

United States Marine Corps - Communications (G6) Division, HQ, Marine Corps Forces South, Miami, Florida

United States Coast Guard - USCG Cutter George Cobb, San Pedro, California

United States Army - 492nd Transportation Company, 24th Battalion, 7th Transportation Group, Fort Eustis, Virginia

United States Navy - USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) ... congratulations and welcome to the fleet.

God bless all of you ... and may we at home do everything in our power to ensure that their sacrifice is not made in vain.