Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:14:34 -0400
From: Bruce Davis
Subject: Voting or Not Voting Has Consequences, Third Verse
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Voting or Not Voting Has Consequences*
The other day I contributed a post to the Chatham Chatlist that contained a couple of observations regarding the Republican led Bock, Stewart, and Petty County Commission. Yes, I was supporting the election of Democrats Hales, Crawford, and Howard. There were several replies, some directly to me and some on the Chatlist. One negative reply on the Chatlist, for example, was from someone who goes by the handle Taylor Kish, Yep, that Taylor Kish.
It would be a challenge to out ugly, Taylor Kish. Ditto to out schoolyard bully, Taylor Kish. So I award Taylor Kish champion of ugliness and schoolyard bullying. It is sad how insulting and vile some individuals feel free to act toward fellow citizens when sitting behind the veil of a keyboard and computer screen. It must be very painful to live day in and day out inside that type of hell on earth world view brain. Fortunately most of us do not have to live there, and can carry on our lives in a more positive and enjoyable world.
I imagine that most people interacting on the Chatham Chatlist already have a strong orientation toward voting either Blue or Red with a little mixed choices here and there. Even independents tend toward one world view or the other. However, it seems possible that one or two good comments here or there will result in influencing a few votes, and that would be good.
To provide a better picture of my political beliefs, and not the Taylor Kish imagined hell, I will start with four quotes from two founding documents to which we all pledge allegiance.
“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†. Preamble to our U. S. Constitution.
“Every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution and government of the United States, and no law or ordinance of the State in contravention or subversion thereof can have any binding force†. Article I, Sec. 5, Allegiance to the United States, NC Constitution.
“Freedom of speech and of the press are two of the great bulwarks of liberty and therefore shall never be restrained, but every person shall be held responsible for their abuse†. Article I, Sec. 14, Freedom of speech and press, NC Constitution.
“All political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government of right originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole†. Article I, Sec. 2, Sovereignty of the people, NC Constitution.
With “Rights†come “Responsibilities†, is one of my beliefs.
The preamble to our U.S. Constitution says to form a more perfect union. Our founders did not say that they had the “perfect†union. As we all know our union has continued to grow over the decades and continues to become a more perfect union. We have continued to become a more just and inclusive society. This is a good thing. This is another one of my beliefs.
Rules and regulations: They are everywhere and we all operate within them. Some are personal values. Many originate from businesses without our consent. Some originate from our collective responsibilities and agreements with each other, in other words, government, which is “us†and government operates with our consent but within the frameworks of our state constitution and ultimately our national constitution.
Among some there is a selfishness and mean spiritedness that is not consistent with our constitutional responsibilities. We all live within a complex network of human beings. Our founding fathers agreed to work together to form a more perfect union to provide for positive, common
outcomes for all of us as a group. Yes that means that some individual behaviors are restrained. Yes a society of individuals working toward the benefits of the whole provides for a more enriching, creative, and nourishing community within which to live. Yes this approach includes
individual rights but also restrains some individual, business, and government impulses. In the mass of humanity in which we live, if we do not self-regulate through consensual self-government for the betterment of the whole, we will be regulated by the rules made up by other
organizational entities without our participatory consent. The three strong legs of our society are responsible individuals, responsible self-government, and responsible businesses. Yes there is a lot to work out and solve as our society evolves but we have the initiating documents of our founders to use as guides on this.
I find it pleasant, nourishing, and uplifting that the founders of our North Carolina Constitution thought it important to write into our Constitution that our government “is instituted solely for the good of the whole†, that with regard to freedom of speech “every person shall be
held responsible for their abuse†, that “every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution and government of the United States†, and that means “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union…â€
Voting or Not Voting Has Consequences
Remember, we are the government and it is to our whole benefit to have it work well for all of us.
Bruce Davis
A real, physical Chatham County citizen.
Willing to meet face to face with anyone to discuss positive government.