I was very dismayed when I hear about our representative to the U.S. Congress, Charlie Wilson canceling a public meeting. The news crew showed about 15 to 20 protesters, who were peaceful in trying to get their messages across. I saw no people who were carrying guns, or signs that threaten harm to the congressman, these folks were not blocking traffic or stopping commerce, these were people had concerns and wanted our elected representative to know about these concerns.
The news folks on TV said that Representative Wilson had rules about having meetings, only 5 to 10 people were allowed, no media presences and no recording of these meeting.
I must have taken my high school government class in some foreign country, because the U.S. Constitution says that we the right to peaceful assembly, that we have a free press, freedom of expression, and of course we have free speech. In addition to those rights, we have laws such as the Open Meetings Act and the Sunshine Laws, which grant us easy and free access to our government. I believe that these rights and laws were ignored my Congressman Wilson.
Maybe I got something wrong in that high school government class, I thought our elected officials were in office to serve the people of their constituency. Plus Representative Wilson was the most successful "write in" candidate in American history, which tells me that he owes a lot to the people of the valley.
Maybe we should adopt a right from other democracies around the world, The Vote of Confidence.
Jerry Smith, PhD.
Somerton, Ohio
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