The democratic process can be beautiful. Participation in the process is partly what makes it so great. There can be no losers when we all get involved, only winners. Hopefully we all encourage this call to civic duty and I can only pray that our younger generation sees and embraces this call to serve our fellow citizens. It is distressing when one reads some of the articles in the "Dunwoody Crier", ridiculing candidates after the elections. Some even were accused of affiliations with groups with which they had no contract. Dick Williams apparently does not get it. Articles such as his lack of civility and only helps to make politics a dirty word.
Perhaps those who read or advertise in the "Crier" could a strong message. Let them know that we are an inclusive society that appreciates participation and a variety of views. We should thank all those who put in time, energy and yes hard earned money to support our way of doing the right thing. I congratulate all those who participated and would like to offer my heartfelt thanks for their efforts. Mr. Dick Williams, thank you for your efforts as well, perhaps the next time you'll do a better job.
Applause! Thank you for reminding us how the democratic process is supposed to work. Makes me think back to how appalled I was when Fran Miller derided the likelihood of a Dunwoody school system on the basis that it would require a vote and not some "executive action" -- "we all know we can't control the democratic process or how the vote may go." That one statement made me get up and leave the church where he and the other State congressmen and senators were presenting... Let's encourage this generation and the next to protect our freedom to choose. No one can take it away from us unless we let them through our apathy. And let's encourage more participation in our civic and electoral duties so that we responsibly govern our local cities and communities together: We do not elect officials to "make decisions for us"; we elect them to carry out the decisions we make together. And if that doesn't work any longer, then perhaps we need direct democracy and republican forms of government instead of "representative" ones.
ReplyDeleteBy the way - did anyone notice when they published the election results - there were some 8,000 voters in total for our State Senator and less than 2,000 for our State Congressman... That is at least in the Republican primaries. Hmm... either we're predominantly democrat or our region really doesn't seem to be very engaged in the electoral process -- that was like 2% of the population! :-)
Thanks again,
Catherine