From:
Dwayne Voegeli
Date:
Nov 06 11:55 UTC
Short link
Again, I do not agree with what Ted Hazelton had to say in his letter. I
strongly disagree with it.
But I also strongly support his right to express his opinion.
Democracy is a messy thing. Winston Churchill said, "democracy is the worst
form of government except for all those others that have been tried."
It would be nice if everyone had a Ph.D in Political Science and only
engaged in lofty discourse but that is not reality. Maybe we should only
allow the Ph.D.'s to talk but then that wouldn't be a democracy.
A danger of democracy is mob rule, that is true.
But democracy is also a self-correcting living thing.
If we disagree with Mr. Hazelton's letter, then we should try to respond
with counter points and not try to shut him down.
Dwayne Voegeli
Nov. 6, 2008
================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Darrell Downs" <dardowns@gmail.com>
To: <winona@forums.e-democracy.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 4:54 PM
Subject: [Winona] No Subject
>I respect anyone's civil freedoms to express nonsense – but I also
> hope for more substance and reason and less bigotry from an elected
> official. The thing that bothers me more than Mr. Hazelton's nonsense
> is mental gymnastics of those that attempt to give credence it. There
> are unpopular positions that remind us of the importance of our civil
> freedoms, but there are also wholly unsubstantiated irrational rants
> that should remind us that democracy is not simply a system that
> provides absolute free license to say or do whatever we want. Mr.
> Voegeli uses Mr. Hazelton's comments to praise democracy as if bigotry
> and hate are somehow a necessary part of it. That type of democracy
> is nothing more than mob rule, and in my view it is a childish
> interpretation. So while I hoped for something better from Mr.
> Hazelton as an elected official, I'm more struck by Mr. Voegeli's
> efforts to employ ignorance and bigotry as a way to praise and build
> democracy. Based on that logic, the more ignorant and meaner we
> become, we get closer to a more meaningful democracy? I don't think
> so.
>
> darrell downs
>
> darrell downs
>
> Info about dardowns:
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