It has been nearly a month since People for Honest Politics launched our website and petition. We are so grateful to all of you who have already signed the petition and engaged with our materials. Please continue to share with those in our community who might be interested.
Some of the main questions we are asked:
What is your goal?
Do you just want to get rid of the library board?
What do you want?
Our primary goal is to send a strong message to local elected officials. We want less ideology and more common-sense governance. We want a government that is focused on issues affecting our community like the economy, high suicide rates, access to healthcare, and creating a Campbell County where young people want to live and grow their families.
We want our community to remember that just as our way of life has worth, so do other ways of life. Government officials cannot force us to believe what they believe. This is about more than which books should or should not be in the library or at the schools. This is about more than one individual being fired.
We truly believe that the promise of America is freedom. We also believe that if we continue to elect government officials who desire to shape our community in their own ideological or religious image, we will all lose. It is the duty of every American citizen to uphold and defend our system of government and democracy. It is in the oath people take when they become naturalized citizens.
We all lose when our elected officials make exceptions to the rule of law for their own beliefs. The rule of law is not just for Republicans or Democrats or progressives or conservatives, it is for everyone. It is the promise of America that everyone is protected under the law.
The bigger issue is our local elected officials’ willingness to bend (if not outright break) one of the bedrock principles of the Constitution (the 1st amendment) because they do not like particular points of view.
We are asking our community, how far do we allow this to go? How far are we willing to apply inconsistent standards and incorrect interpretations of the Constitution and the law? How far are we willing to allow our elected officials to go beyond the line and the letter of the law?
The promise of America should not be eroded for political convenience.
Are there limits to our freedoms? Absolutely. However, we are seeing a willingness by some elected officials to ignore the legal precedents, context, and nuance, in order to establish their own point of view, or political, or religious ideology as the law.
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