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Home   News   Sports   Social   Obituaries   Events   Letters Rambling with Uncle Bud ... Who coined the term “majority rules,” anyway? © Bud Larsen July 22, 2011 By Bud Larsen “To a friend’s house, the road is never long.” -Anonymous- It seems to me we’ve somehow gotten off the “majority rules” path, because we sure are not lining up at the voting polls on election day. We seem to be responding to pundits and special action groups instead of the majority or decent sense. I, like you, pride myself on being of independent mind on political issues, yet; when I ponder a question or action proposed by an elected official, I hunger to know what my peers think. Who coined the term “majority rules,” anyway? Same bunch who came up with “separation of Church and State” would be my guess. I do faintly remember both terms being drummed into my small head in middle and high school civic classes. What I've heard right here at home is “my one vote does not count” and that statement, boys and girls, really turns my crank. Let’s put two of these points to rest now … The totally apathetic position of one vote does not have an impact was and is shot down when you look at our most recent school funding voting. At the first vote was defeated. One had to assume that it was the majority who wanted it defeated … wrong. It was merely that a particular group went to the polls that day. A lot of us didn't even realize that an election was coming ... our local media sure wasn't bristling with info. Seems like advocates on both sides focused on telling their core support groups how to vote rather than on informing the general public the unvarnished facts. Shows us what the advocates think about us folks who prefer to form our own opinion rather than being told what to think. Had the first vote held, our consignment to the ranks of sheep would have been sealed. Just shows that we all need to pay closer attention. The rest of us finally decided to join in on the voting the second time around, and the funding issue passed once the true majority went reeling from a swift kick in the tush. I would hope that in future elections we see a preponderance of letters to the editor and ad-hoc meetings to stir us into getting off it, and to stir us to go to the polls on the first voting day. On to my third heartburn area … Never could figure out why we put so much emphasis on the religious affiliation for a candidate for public office. How many times can a person be saved? Religion is a private matter. Sure, it’s nice to know (or think at least) that the majority are Christians, but more religious information comes under the heading of too much information. Hence the phrase, "Separation of Church and State." It means as much to me as my right to be armed. I hate labels and people being put into a certain category, so I will not take the easy path in my list of this week’s heartburn areas by attacking your right to vote. Knowing what the majority wants gives us a clear path to reaching new goals in our government. The goal facing all of us right now is debt reduction, which affects every baby, boy, girl, man and woman in this great nation, now and into the future. Please join me in a quest to find and elect people who will have the moral courage to cut debt, not add to it, and who will focus not on convincing the people already on their side rather at the cost of informing the rest of us who prefer salient facts with which to make up our own mind. We got a second chance with the school budget, but we're stuck with a single go-round when it comes to electing the people we want to represent us in the halls of power. A clown with a large popular constituency with the same biases, just because elected, remains a clown, even if the majority saw so little chance of seeing the clown elected they didn't bother to go out to vote. Want to see what happens when people put aside their own preconcieved notions and work together as a community? How about the “Swish” weekend on mainstreet? Great job by a superb committee of volunteers. They didn't focus on themselves, their biases or their particular points of view ... they looked instead at "the greater good." Imagine what could happen if we went back to electing politicians committed to doing that. Yvonne … you can return to Boundary County, as all is forgiven. We’ll even accept that yappity dog of yours. Enjoy the summer and one another … I'm still pi *** ed off, but I remain ... Uncle Bud Questions or comments? Click here to email!