Politics of Division

Kissimmee City Commissioner Artero Otero has decided to push forward with his agenda to incorporate "In God We Trust" into the city logo as a way to further divide our community. It appears that his goal now is to create a religious and social climate of hate to send a message to President Obama and local democrats that their 'socialist' ways are bad. He wants to do this by taking the expensive logo change initiative directly to the voters so they can not only pay $200,000 to change the logo, but they can also pay an additional $67,000 for a special election to decide on how the city's stationery should look. All of this expense Commissioner Otero justifies under a banner of patriotism where he admits that unless the phrase "In God We Trust" is added to the logo, he will not feel patriotic because of the "socialist" direction of our country. Maybe this is because Commissioner Otero does not know the history of our most recent national motto, "In God We Trust."

The words "In God We Trust" were placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment that existed during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861 which was written by Rev. M. R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania. Secretary Chase instructed the Director of the US Mint James Pollock, who believed that the United States must become an official theocracy, to develop motto for US Coinage. In "God We Trust" was first used on the bronze two-cent piece which was issued from 1864 to 1873. The use of "In God We Trust" has not been with out some lapses. The motto disappeared from the five-cent coin in 1883, and did not reappear until production of the Jefferson nickel began in 1938. Since 1938, all United States coins have had the inscription. Later, the motto was found missing from the new design of the double-eagle gold coin and the eagle gold coin shortly after they appeared in 1907. The motto has been in continuous use on the one-cent coin since 1909, and on the ten-cent coin since 1916. It also has appeared on all gold coins and silver dollar coins, half-dollar coins, and quarter-dollar coins struck since July 1, 1908.

In 1955 Congress passed a bill to have the motto placed on paper currency, and it first appeared on bills two years later. In 1956, Congress passed a resolution declaring "In God We Trust" the national motto. Our Country's original national motto, "E Pluribus Unum" ("out of many, [come] one,") celebrating plurality and diversity, still appears on the Presidential Seal and on some paper currency.

During the height of the cold war in 1965, commonly known as the McCarthy era, public profession of religious beliefs was seen as a litmus test of the ideological war against those who were 'godless' communist and was when the motto "In God We Trust" replaced "E Pluribus Unum." It was during the same time frame that "under God" was added to the secular Pledge of Allegiance and "so help me God" was mandated to end all oaths for federal justices and judges. It is interesting to note that the original Pledge of Allegiance, which was crafted by a Baptist minister, was completely secular and contained no reference to a “God.”

For those of us who consider ourselves good God fearing Christian patriots of the original ideals of the United States of America, we still believe in our original motto of "E Pluribus Unum" which is obviously what Commissioner Otero stands against. His attempt to create an atmosphere in local government that only those who believe in his god deserve the attention of government has moved Commissioner Otero beyond the realm of bad policy and into a realm of separatism. While the WayneWho staff applauds Commissioner Otero convictions in his religious beliefs and defend his religious rights, we have to question if his ability to work for the all the citizens of our community is still possible? Commissioner Otero has made it painfully clear that he will refuse to defend all of his constituents if their social or religious beliefs land in the realm of what he sees as "socialist," so we have to wonder if he should resign from his seat because he can not accomplish his duties?

Like many other great republican leaders, maybe he should resign to continue his fight for his style of government on a much larger scale. Elected officials are not suppose to have the luxury of picking and choosing who the represent based on beliefs, but this is a debate that some would like to have. Our belief is that elected officials are elected to represent all law abiding citizens for whom they were elected to serve. Commissioner Otero has made it clear these are not his intentions and we have to wonder if the job of being a commissioner is just getting in his way?

While we have received many e-mails about recall efforts to remove Commissioner Otero from his seat, we would argue that this is not the right direction for our community. Creating more hateful dialog is not what will heal this community. Right now, both sides of this argument are digging in and are ready to break our community apart. The WayneWho staff believes that rest of the City Commission has done a fantastic job of calming the waters while being respectful to all sides. We believe that they have followed the spirit of founders in respecting the beliefs of everyone. We hope that as Mayor Swan stated last week that this issue is truly behind us. We will pray for that anyway.

"No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship." - Thomas Jefferson