The Rev. Frank Spencer's letter (“Can't allow blatant violation of Constitution,” Thursday, Dec. 29), wherein he confesses, “For 25 years it was my privilege and my ministry as an assistant attorney general of the state of Mississippi to represent Mississippians in the courts of Mississippi and in the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court,” may shed some light as to just why our nation over the last 25 years has come to be in such sad shape, considering the views that he espouses are in lock-step with the “hand-wringing” ultraliberal faction of his ilk.

Spencer writes in his letter, “I urge every reader to take it as his patriotic duty to not allow the principles that established our great nation to be disregarded.” But with all of his alleged “learned” experience in the arena of state and federal law, he sadly fails to fathom that the principles that established our great nation include those principles determined to be critical to the protection of our democratic republic, especially in times of war.

As a matter of principle, our founders, in order to protect our nation's great democratic republic, had the foresight to provide for the ultimate formation of a totally non-democratic and zealously dictatorial component of government called the U.S. armed forces. Thankfully, these armed forces have provided this protection on numerous occasions and at great sacrifice.

As a matter of principle, our founders further provided for the eventual federal authority to suspend habeas corpus, which led to the authority to declare “martial law” (http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html). Related provisions provide executive authority to implement provisions that approach those of martial law, which include selective control of nation's communications systems as a national or local threat dictates.

As a matter of principle, obviously these provisions, if implemented at times other than war or threat of war, would be considered to be a criminal offense by responsible federal officials. The present war (World War III?) against terrorism meets all legal and moral criteria for implementation; to do less could be determined to be criminal.

These matters of principle are mentioned so as to stress that a democratic republic such as ours can only survive through electing to democratically vote for, establish and enforce necessary critical protective agencies and strategies that are of necessity, undemocratic, until such time that our cherished democracy is no longer threatened.