I am writing in support of Constitution Corner, July 6, “Why I write this column.”
I am writing in support of Constitution Corner, July 6, “Why I write this column.”
Mikie Kerr is correct that our government is moving toward more intrusive regulations. She is also right that the nightly news, on almost all channels, features too much screaming and too few facts.
Limiting the opinions of everyday people while accepting only the opinions of people who agree with you or those with authority is a recipe for national, social, and cultural disaster. I would rather listen to and disagree with “an extremist, mainland wingnut” than have that voice silenced because it’s not what I want to hear.
To reflexively resist one side or the other is all too common, and all too regrettable. By closing our minds to even the remote possibility that another view has a valid point is to preemptively surrender the capacity of our mind to shape opinions.
Although many of my beliefs may be different than Ms. Kerr’s, I, too, agree that more people need to better understand constitutional liberty. Everyone needs to pick up a copy of her pocket Constitution and become familiar with what it says.
Further, the Bill of Rights apply to everybody in this country and we should never forget that. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to read those amendments once in a while. Not enough people do, and that’s one of the reasons we’re in the trouble we’re in.
The genius of America lies in its capacity to forge a single nation from peoples of remarkably diverse racial, religious, and ethnic origins. The American Creed envisages a nation composed of individuals making their own choices and being accountable to themselves, not a nation blindly accepting the opinions of any one group.
Neale Wade is a resident of Kailua-Kona.
