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To the editor:
There are some who advocate voting all elected officials out of office on Sept. 14 (or in November) and cite many reasons for such an extreme reaction.
This seems both flawed and misguided advice. What this view refuses to admit is the abandonment of being a responsible citizen, one who chooses goals agreeable to her or his philosophy and supports those who are mostly in agreement.
This is a tacit admission that all of us have so failed as citizens that we have created such a profound mess that it cannot be undone except by removing every knowledgeable person from office.
Seriously, does this make sense? It seems there are some who advocate replacing experienced people and their staffs with neophytes who are about to encounter hordes of lobbyists.
Please, try this experiment in some other country, like China, Russia, any Congo, or some South America banana republic and tell all of us how it turns out.
How informed are you about the issues facing us today and tomorrow? What independent, verifiable sources do you turn to for your information? How often do you write polite, civil letters/emails/tweets/ other e-farts to your elected officials to question or suggest a course of action including factual reasons?
What about anticipated legislative plans or courses of actions? Do you express yourself in such a way to invite a serious dialogue or do seek to eviscerate your "opponent?" Our government has managed to survive for a few generations for our "fore parents" understood that our manner of governance was an experiment in government/philosophy/psychology/ ..
The experiment continues until we abdicate our rights and ask that some person/party/religion do our thinking for us. For benign evidence to counter such assertion of uniformity, go spend a few hours over the next few days and fill out application forms at a wild variety of companies.
Just how well do you fit into their little boxes? If companies cannot find a sort of uniform basis to identify worthy candidates why does anyone think some upstart contender for an office has better insight? Are you not more interesting and complicated? Should your final votes not reflect this complication?
I separate my desires for specific candidates, their goals, and my own goals. Will you all deal with issues and not the persons or characters behind such positions?
Based on what appears on line from Northern Maine to Lower California, I conclude that it is not likely. Sadly, this is your loss.
Arthur Thomas
Seaview Road, Gloucester
