Letter to the Editor

Your view: Election response

Friday, November 19, 2004

Well, the election has come and gone. Had it not been for some local unopposed candidates, I wouldn't have voted for one winner.

After listening, reading and watching this campaign season, I am ready to propose a new amendment to the U.S. Constitution - one that will automatically disqualify any candidate who speaks in a church during his or her campaign or who mentions his or her own faith more than once a week.

Supposedly this election was won on moral issues. Ummm - what about the moral issues of taxing the poor to relieve the wealthy? What about going to war under false pretenses? What about giving favor to contractors with whom you have personal dealings? What about a deficit that your grandchildren, if not the great-grandchildren, will suffer under? What about character assassination? What about using scare tactics to get out the vote? What about having only two voting machines at a major university in Ohio?

Well, as you can tell, I didn't vote for the President. I do find some solace in the fact that I have lived long enough to know when the pendulum swings both ways. In 1964, Goldwater, a conservative not unlike our current cowboy President, was soundly defeated by a liberal Democrat from Texas.

Maybe in 40 more years - I'll only be a young 113 - the pendulum will swing back.

Arthur Duncan,

Gideon