Letter to Editor
Frustrations are mounting by many people since our Representative Baron Hill has wasted nearly all of the august recess before he finally decided to have some meetings. The delays has caused many people to submit letters to the local media in an effort to be heard.
With permission from the author, I am posting one of these letters to the editor that has been submitted to all of the local newspapers. But since we have no way of knowing if it will be published, we are at least going to give it some exposure here.
Town Halls and Public Discourse
I have watched with interest the many news clips from town halls across the United States. Sometimes they show the best side of public discourse. Sometimes they show the worst as both angry citizens and elected officials simply resort to name-calling. Our local Congressman, Baron Hill, has decided not to engage in any public forums during the recess and simply dismisses these angry citizens as “political terrorists.” I believe Baron Hill’s decision to avoid his constituents, with or without the ridiculous slander he used to rationalize it, to be the worst response of all.
As Thomas Jefferson said: “When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.” I am 44 years old and, as Congressman Hill knows, have never even called my Congressman about anything until the past month. Not surprisingly, I am not alone in my sudden interest to express an opinion to my Congressman. Emails and calls, however, only generate form responses and polite conversations with uninformed staff. Regardless of his ultimate opinion on the healthcare debate, he owes it to his constituents to stand amongst us, state his opinions and answer questions. That, at a minimum, is his job.
Newspapers are supposed to be the advocates of free speech and public debate. It is past time for the newspapers in this District to call on Congressman Hill to debate publicly this important issue. After all, as Jefferson also said, “truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict.”
Rodney Scott
With permission from the author, I am posting one of these letters to the editor that has been submitted to all of the local newspapers. But since we have no way of knowing if it will be published, we are at least going to give it some exposure here.
Town Halls and Public Discourse
I have watched with interest the many news clips from town halls across the United States. Sometimes they show the best side of public discourse. Sometimes they show the worst as both angry citizens and elected officials simply resort to name-calling. Our local Congressman, Baron Hill, has decided not to engage in any public forums during the recess and simply dismisses these angry citizens as “political terrorists.” I believe Baron Hill’s decision to avoid his constituents, with or without the ridiculous slander he used to rationalize it, to be the worst response of all.
As Thomas Jefferson said: “When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.” I am 44 years old and, as Congressman Hill knows, have never even called my Congressman about anything until the past month. Not surprisingly, I am not alone in my sudden interest to express an opinion to my Congressman. Emails and calls, however, only generate form responses and polite conversations with uninformed staff. Regardless of his ultimate opinion on the healthcare debate, he owes it to his constituents to stand amongst us, state his opinions and answer questions. That, at a minimum, is his job.
Newspapers are supposed to be the advocates of free speech and public debate. It is past time for the newspapers in this District to call on Congressman Hill to debate publicly this important issue. After all, as Jefferson also said, “truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict.”
Rodney Scott
Labels: Baron Hill, politics
posted by Anonymous at 5:30 AM
3 Comments:
The word is out. Barren Baron will have a town hall at IUS on Monday, 8/31, from 6:30 to 7:30pm. What kind of a town hall only lasts one hour. The word is that liberal democrat operatives have been given first priority on seats. It appears that Barren Baron's town hall will be nothing more than an Obama-style infomerical. The same day that the Infomercial was announced, I received Barren Baron's lastest propaganda mailing. He stated his dedication to Health Care reform in this document. He claims that Health care reform will guarantee 1)Lower Costs; 2)More Choices and 3) Higher Quality. What kind of dream world does this guy reside in?
For years there has been this joke going around: How can you tell when a Democrat is lying? Answer: His lips are moving.
Now, based on this Barren Baron's ridiculous piece of progaganda (in addition to better health care, he promised more jobs especially green jobs), the answer to this joke must be amended to include any written document authored by a liberal democrat.
The Republican Candidate for
Barren Baron's seat in congress, Todd Young, is holding a town hall on Monday also, in Brownstown, IN. Last week Todd held a town hall in Jasper attended by 300 people. The summary of his town hall was submitted with respect my Mr. Young to Barren Baron for his consideration. I suspect that the document was totally ignored. The ninth district voted for McCain in the last election. I suspect that the conservative roots in the 9th will rise up to throw this big liberal, Barren Baron, out in the next election. Remember Barren Baron voted for Tax and Cap and Tarp. So much for his claim to being a Blue Dog democrat. That is just another lie also.
His AARP phone town hall also only took certain preselected questions.
Who does he really represent and who does he really work for?
Baron's chameleon act is wearing thin. He talks like a bluedog, but he walks like a lap dog.
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