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Tuesday, 31 October 2006 16:13 |
Columnist termed wrong
in view on debate no-show
In a recent commentary (headlined "Citizen-Times shows disheartening lack of non-partisanship" in the Daily Planet on Oct. 24), Janese Johnson inaccurately asserted that Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, was a no-show for six debates.
There has been only one genuine debate proposed and Mr. (Heath) Shuler clumsily backed out of it at the last minute with a hasty and transparent excuse.
Those
other so-called "debates" you are referring to were scripted candidate
forums held by leftist organizations like the League of Women Voters. I
attended one myself and had to tell one secretly hand-picked
"questioner" to end his long-winded, entitlement-mentality speech and
get to the question.
That Mr. Shuler
backed out of an opportunity to engage in an actual free-style debate
where candidates can challenge each other directly reveals who is the
real no-show.
For Mr. Taylorës part, there is no dishonor in declining to be abused
in phony and biased canned forums designed to place the disfavored in a
bad light. Indeed, quite the reverse.
TIM PECK
Asheville
Voter urges all Americans
to exercise their freedoms
Two hundred thirty years ago Thomas Jefferson penned these words:
"When, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one
People to dissolve the Political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and
equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natureës God entitle
them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they
should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation."
Our right to vote provides us the ability to periodically dissolve the
Political bands which govern us. Now more than ever it is imperative to
exercise that Right!
Patrick Henry was perhaps the one man most responsible among our
nationës Founding Fathers for inciting the call to arms which would
become the Revolutionary War for independence from the British crown.
That famous cry, "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!" could be
considered the primordial mantra for our great nation. So much of what
our democratic republic stands for is grounded upon the preservation of
liberty. Indeed, liberty is declared by Thomas Jefferson to be one of
mankindës unalienable rights endowed by the Creator. The Statue of
Liberty, a gift from our co-revolutionary brethren the French,
announces to all entering the port of New York the promise that "We the
people" of this land will uphold this sacred value. And yet, how many
of us today truly understand the import of this most basic of human
rights? As Americans, many of us take our liberty for granted, so
fundamental and ingrained it is to our very way of life.
Yet precious liberty is a gift of our society and we ought appreciate
and protect this fundamental principle, for there are those forces in
the world that would seek to undermine and erode her to advance their
own devices. Websterës College Dictionary defines liberty as "freedom
from arbitrary or despotic government or control." Our Declaration of
Independence was a rejection of the authority of King George III and
the British autocracy. King George was truly a despot, a ruler who
exercised absolute and unlimited power, a tyrant and oppressor.
Following our countryës liberation from this monarchy, the leaders met
in 1787 to devise a new system of governance that would seek to protect
the principles of democracy and provide a triune system of checks and
balances to power.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect
Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America."
The ratification of the Constitution did not occur without much
deliberation and debate. Once again, Patrick Henry spoke to the
Virginia Convention asserting:
"This Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come
to examine these features, sir, they appear to me horribly frightful.
Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting; it squints toward
monarchy, and does not this raise indignation in the breast of every
true American? Your president may easily become king. Your Senate is so
imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed to
what may be a small minority .... If your American chief be a man of
ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him to render himself
absolute! The army is in his hands... the president, in the field, at
the head of his army, can prescribe the terms on which he shall reign
master." These words were uttered 218 years ago and still ring true
today.
The consolidation of power through presidential directives, reliance on
committee and unilateral imposition of legislative rules, politically
motivated judicial appointments and rulings are just some of the
tactics that are moving the country in the direction of the will of a
powerful ruling minority.
Over the past decade, there has been ever increasing erosion in the
separations of church and state. Commerce and avarice are the dominant
motivations driving the policies of our government. The imperialistic
extension of our influence militarily and economically is actually
degrading our ability to advance the causes of democracy and liberty in
those parts of the world where tyranny still reigns.
Policies of unilateralism and a return to the isolationist practices of
the cold war era have rendered impotent American diplomacy. I dare say
that the exercise of government in our country today bears little
resemblance to the form envisioned by the founding fathers.
Fortunately, we have the ability to effect change in the leadership and
thereby steer our nation back toward a position of world respect such
that Liberty may once again prevail. I implore you to exercise your
right to vote on Nov. 7.
MARK JOHNSON
Cottonwood, Ariz.
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