To the editor:
The Bill of Rights. The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Specific freedoms that protect citizens rights from governments, public officials and other citizens. We know …
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To the editor:
The Bill of Rights. The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Specific freedoms that protect citizens rights from governments, public officials and other citizens. We know what the Bill of Rights stands for. Yet sometimes we need to be reminded.
In his speech to Congress on March 15, 1965, President Johnson stated, “Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted in democracy. The most basic right of all was the right to choose their own leaders.” He also stated in that same speech, “Our mission is at once the oldest in the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.”
President Obama in a speech on September 7, 2018, “But when there’s a vacuum in our democracy, when we take our basic rights and freedoms for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing and look for the newest diversion, the electronic versions of bread and circuses, then other voices fill the void. A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. And demagogues promise simple fixes to complex problems. They promised to fight for the little guy even as they cater to the wealthiest and the most powerful. They promised to clean up corruption and then plunder away. They start undermining norms that ensure accountability, try to change the rules to entrench their power further.”
I have lived here for most of my 51 years. I was never interested in running for office. Like most people, as long as Tiverton kept up the schools and my trash was picked up every week, I was happy. I trusted our politicians to do the right thing for the town.
But gone are the days of Tiverton being a quiet little town by the water. Gone are the days of trusting local politicians to do the right thing for the town.
Soon I imagine you will begin seeing signs around town informing you on how to vote. I ask that you take 10 minutes out of your busy schedule to vote on October 10.
Bill Vieira
Tiverton