Letter to the editor: Meaning of local elections

Local elections hold immense meaning, especially now with the ideologies and philosophies on the proper role of government in our everyday lives polarized between a) obedient compliance and resigned dependency on one hand, and b) personal responsibility and self reliance on the other. I like to think of it as: a) is the left hand, and b) the right hand.

I believe that Americans are ingrained with a sense of independence; they believe they are free to act and do as they please with their own lives and personal property. We are all indebted to those fine fellows who, in the mid to late 1770s and 1780s codified those precepts, in the documents that established this unique constitutional republic [which some now misidentify as a democracy] – the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and ultimately the U.S. Constitution and the First Ten Amendments [Bill of Rights] - without which they would not have established unanimous support for Federalism. These documents CLEARLY spelled out our inalienable rights to liberty and freedom, and specified narrow limits that make ‘any’ government ‘good’, Federal or state. The U.S. Constitution protects the rights of all the States’ citizens from the tyranny of oppressive government.

Today, government and its agencies are everywhere in our lives, injected into our communities, our backyards, our homes, and how we raise our children. These policies come not from our founding principles, but from foreign concepts promulgated as ‘progressive’ and ‘for the common good’ and ‘globally beneficial’ – feel good collectivist jargon to help make the propaganda easier to swallow. I for one think this far out of line with the philosophy of freedom, liberty, personal responsibility and self reliance which I hold as my guide; that’s me, on the right hand.

The purpose of this letter is to encourage voters in our area to reflect seriously, think deeply on what they expect of and from government, and how much latitude, power, and intrusion into their personal lives they are willing to grant to government. Big government and an electorate ignorant of what model limited good government is seem to be the problems we need to correct. We need to elect people who understand and hold dear the principles of liberty and freedom; people who abide by the contents and intent of the principles of liberty outlined in the U.S. Declaration and codified in the U.S. Constitution.

That is why; on my ballot, I am filling in the ovals next to Greg Hinkle for Sanders County Commissioner District 1, and Jennifer Fielder, Senator District 7. These are two people I know and trust to be honest, and true to the right principles, who hold respect for their neighbors and community, who have shown by words and their actions their dedication to the success and prosperity for all in Sanders County, Montana, and U.S.A.

Lark Chadwick

Thompson Falls