I have noticed that people in Southwest Virginia are concerned about how the federal government is trying to “stifle information.” They are worried, and they have every right to feel that way.
The government is involved in restricting what people in communities throughout America say, think, and do. That is not right, with all the changes occurring in our lives today the population of this country are being affected by restrictions in higher education, tariffs, limits on immigration and lack of support for foreign countries. All these changes have been initiated with little concern to the income situation of middle- and lower-class citizens of the United States. These are factors that have a tremendous effect on the people around the country and Southwest Virginia.
A friend of mine recently commented it is the responsibility of all of us to get involved in what is going on within the federal government.
We can all get involved by attending rally’s; talking to others, questioning local politicians, writing letters to the editor, and supporting the principals of this country, as the United States approaches our 250 anniversary.
It is all about Democracy. I recently read something written by E.B. White in 1946. What he wrote then is just as important today:
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half the time. But the other half has a voice.
Democracy is the feeling of privacy in the voting booth, the feeling of being able to select the book you want at the library, the feeling of freedom to do what is right.
Democracy is an idea that hasn’t been destroyed. Democracy is as American as apple pie, mustard on a hot dog and cream in your coffee.”
Democracy is something special, we can’t let it go.
Steve Huppert, Christiansburg
