LTE – JoAnn Utphall – 6-9-2021
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Letter to the Editor:
I have noticed some patterns as I visited some of the Dunn County township monthly meetings to support my friends who were presenting the second Amendment resolution. New Haven Township adopted the resolution the same night it was presented. But in some other townships, opposition has been trying to inhibit the resolution from even being presented or shame and intimidate the presenters. The opposition raised the idea that this resolution creates division among the community, is the start of a “fight” or is a waste of time; that we should be spending our time supporting more programs for mental health, etc.
No we don’t want to start a “fight.” We want a discussion where our ideas and concerns will be heard – to embrace our first amendment right of freedom speech. We want our local government to hear us and take our concerns seriously. Democracy was founded on a free exchange of ideas and a lot of the time, this free exchange of ideas cause heated debates. Good example of this was when the Founding Fathers met at the Constitutional Convention to create the Declaration of Independence. And a thorough discussion happens every time a new bill is presented at the county, state or federal level.
The township level is where we have the closest connection to our elected officials. We want a “bottom up” effect instead of a “top down” effect where the state and federal government regulates and taxes every aspect of our daily existence.
All we have to do is look at history to see what happens when we don’t have a free exchange of ideas and concerns. Looking back at the Hitler’s rise to power, you see Hitler’s Brown shirts (paramilitaries – the Stormtroopers) and Mussolini’s (Italy’s) Black shirts that used intimidation tactics to silence opposition. In both cased it escalated to physical assaults on the opposition. And what about the tactics used by the Soviet Secret Police agency that Vladimir Lenin started in 1917 and later the KGB? Look at present day China where people can be placed in re-education camps and prisons for having an opinion that the government doesn’t like.
Existing the Constitutional Convention, a lady asked Ben Franklin, “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” We are very blessed to be living in a Republic. Let’s keep it working for us.
JoAnn Utphall
Boyceville