EDITOR:
Ok, Carol Clopton (last week’s Letters to the Editor), I get it. You are voting for Biden on the Harris-Biden ticket. We will cancel each others vote, but Missouri will fall squarely in the Trump-Pence column. I just can’t pass up an opportunity to respond to your editorial, full of opinion, to which you are entitled, versus fact. Let me point out some of the more egregious errors.
First let’s find some common ground, the national debt. At 26+ trillion dollars in debt, and adding a million dollars every 22 seconds, whatever we believe will be of little importance when we are no longer a nation. We have no, or at least very, very few, fiscal conservatives in either party. We can never pay off the debt so another method will have to be devised. Probably a complete financial debacle including a 40-50% devaluation of the dollar. God will be the only one we can look to in those days. But this is probably our only point of consensus.
You seem to think that churches have a stranglehold on Missouri government. I wish it were true. Maybe you haven’t noticed but up until a few weeks ago we couldn’t hold worship services. And even now we have to abide by mandates from the health department to wear masks and exercise the 6 foot rule between family units. No, I don’t believe for a minute that the “religious groups…have a strangle control of all things governed in Missouri.” And it is even worse in the Kingdom of California where Democrat Governor Newsome has said no in-person worship service can take place including in-home Bible studies. On to the next issue.
Absentee voters who obtain an absentee ballot by requesting one by mail or in person must have it notarized with a few exceptions. The notary must confirm your identification and witness your signature, then stamp or emboss your ballot. With SB631, mail-in voting in Missouri is allowed for anyone wanting to avoid possible contact with the China virus. A mail-in ballot can be obtained in person or by mail. This temporary exception expires January 1, 2021 so it is only for this election cycle. The few exceptions to getting it notarized are: those 65 or older, immunocompromised, or have certain chronic or respiratory illnesses. The ACLU has attempted to have the notary option canceled but Gov. Parson has rejected that idea. Good job.
The other rules for getting a mail-in ballot require the request to be received basically 14 days before the election, the actual wording is “…no later than 5 p.m. on the second Wednesday prior to any election.” Absentee ballots may be obtained up until the day before the election.
“Mail-in ballots must be returned by mail in the provided envelope, with the statement on the envelope signed in the presence of and witnessed by a notary. In order to be counted, mail-in ballots must be received by the election authority at or before the time fixed by law for the closing of the polls on Election Day (7 p.m.).” Missouri Secretary of Sate, Elections and Voting So, mail-in ballots must be exactly that, MAILED IN. That eliminates voter fraud by requiring a registered voter to 1) request the ballot and provide identification, and 2) mailed in with a notary seal. Next.
I’m assuming you meant “censor” and not “censure.” If that is what you had in mind then I do agree with a portion of your statement that people “…can research candidates, issues, and taxes without…” being censored. However, that is exactly what the Masters of the Universe are doing to conservatives. But for those of you who would like to search the web you can out maneuver Google by using alternate search engines such as DuckDuckGo, a great search engine, or Yahoo or Bing. Your search engine can easily be changed by going to your settings on your computer or smart phone and making a different selection.
Your “defund the police” paragraph is laughable. Our black communities are the ones most concerned about a reduction in the police. The destruction of businesses during the “peaceful protests” that serve these communities has caused the residents to ask, “Where will we shop now?” Many must now take a bus where they could previously walk to the grocery. And the Minneapolis City Council, after a unanimous vote to defund their police department, is now asking where are the police? Really?
Your stance on abortion and war, while parroting the liberal cause, are far from the truth. Regarding abortion, I, like you, believe in freedom of choice. Where we differ is when the choice is made. I believe that the “choice” must come well before there is a human life involved. Life is sacred, each being created in the image of God. I like President Reagan’s remark, “I’ve noticed that everyone in favor of abortion has already been born.” And “…bound and determined to send to war.” Really Carol? Where have you been for the past few decades? The military draft ended Jan. 27, 1973. Our armed forces are entirely voluntary. They are great men and women who choose to defend the flag, the American dream, the right for you and I to voice our opinion, and even the right for elite athletes to kneel during our National Anthem. Now on to your next error, the Electoral College.
It does protect the less populated states and with the 23rd Amendment, gives representation to the American citizens who live in a Federal Territory, the District of Columbia, not a state, the same representation as other states such as Wyoming and Montana who also have 3 electoral votes. It was designed by the original 13 colonies who were also concerned about big government, about which most of us are currently concerned.
Let me conclude by addressing your entire letter to the editor. You seem to have mastered rule #5 of Saul Alinsky’s, Rules for Radicals, “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon, there is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule.” I put it this way, it takes triple the space to disprove a lie, rumor, or false accusation because the facts need to be thoroughly presented.
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts.”― Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
–Jim DeJarnatt
Weston