Dear Editor:
Thank you for profiles of candidates running in the primary election for offices June 30 in Watonga, Blaine County and the State of Oklahoma. Interviews with the candidates are informative and remind us of the opportunity to vote for those we believe can best represent us in our school board, county, state and national governments.
One of the curious attitudes I have detected here in Blaine county after being away for 50 years is summarized by this statement: “I love my country, but I ___ the government”. I find this very curious. As Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address in 1863. “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. As Americans, our government is ‘of the people.’
As Americans, our government is ‘of the people.’ The people we elect are from among us. Whether they serve on the school board, in Blaine County, in the Oklahoma legislature, or in the United States Congress, those elected are ‘of the people’. I know some of our county and state elected officials, and those we send to Washington. I can tell you they are made of same stock of which you and I are made. They love their country, or they would not serve to try to remedy the many problems, move the country forward, or respond to emergencies. It is a difficult process with many pressures, influences and points of view.
Those who stand for election and serve in elected office are serving ‘by the people’. We, the people, invest in them with the authority and responsibility to represent us. We the people are those who have ratified our state and national Constitutions that are the framework for our government. We the people are those who periodically vote for our representatives.
Then, as Lincoln said, we have a government “for the People”. Our government exists to serve, protect, prosper and generally represent us for our welfare. Our elected officials have developed programs and policies for the people to provide education, protect us from those who would do us harm, both domestically and internationally, care for the elderly and those with disabilities, dispense justice, etc., etc.
During the last general election in 2018, only 40.9% of the electorate in our Congressional district voted. So, let us VOTE to elect the best people to serve in a government that is “of the people, by the people and for the people”.
Joe Bryan, Watonga