An outside agitator on the letters page

By now I'm not shocked by the sentiments expressed in the letter that ran in the local paper's "Pulse of the People" column last Friday, but I was surprised by the return address. James Roehrborn hails from Alexandria, Minnesota, but saw fit to send the Troy, NY, paper a comment in praise of the divine intervention that gave Republicans a majority in the House of Representatives last fall.

I believe the Tea Party movement was a great influence that brought about this amazing victory. But, I also believe that God intervened to save this nation in which He had a crucial role in founding, winning the Revolutionary War, writing the Constitution and many other ways.

George Washington himself was wont to credit "Providence" for his victories over the British, but I suspect that Alexander Hamilton and James Madison would challenge Roehrborn's account of the Framing. The Constitution is a notoriously secular document, though pious legend credits Benjamin Franklin's call to prayer for resolving many of the disputes that delayed finalization of the new plan of government. I doubt, however, whether any of these Founders would recognize Roehrborn as a spiritual brother.

But what business has Roehrborn writing to a Troy paper all the way from Minnesota? I did a Google search of his name and learned that he's sent versions of the same letter to papers as far afield as Connecticut and Arizona, and sent a diatribe against evolution to a black newspaper in Alabama. The man doesn't appear to have a blog of his own, but he may be sending his letter to papers electronically. For all I know, many times the number of papers that have printed his current letter have turned it down. But leaving aside the dubious content of Roehrborn's missive, I have to say "more power to him" for his determination to spread his message. If local papers across the country are willing to publish letters from anywhere in the country, then anyone willing to make the effort to send a letter hundreds of times over has an opportunity to reach more readers than he might on a blog like this one. Roehrborn probably isn't the first person to attempt such mass-mailings, but he ought to be an example to others, in form if not in content.