Letter to the Editor: Rebuts persecuted minorities

By Sun Advocate

Editor:
Though I celebrate the rights of the individuals Ken Larsen mentioned in his letter (Sun Advocate, Nov. 22) to assemble and vent peacefully, I must say that I do not support the statements made about what job it is of the government or police officials.
I feel that it is true when our founding documents were born that the intent was to “protect each individual’s inalienable rights”. What government and its officials have to do now is also what those initial documents were intended to do all along; to grow, adapt and govern with the change of humanity and its progression.
We cannot confuse the initial intent of our founding documents with what could not be foreseen by those who wrote them. Our government has the responsibility to ensure we are all treated fairly. Does this always happen? No. Is the adaptation from our founding past to our accelerated present/future always clear-cut and simple? No.
To hear the complainers and whiners of today is very frustrating. I support change, but then they need to do something about it. And you better be darn sure you don’t step on my rights while you do it. The government has had to evolve as best as it has been able.
Though most Americans may not like to hear it, our government isn’t perfect. Big surprise. But it is the best in the world. Our past is tainted with many marks but we move on for the better; pick ourselves up, learn and move on. Again, has this always happened? No. Are we still learning and evolving? We darn well better be.
Our national treasure is not just a piece of paper, but also the understanding that as Americans, we not only have the right to be free but have the responsibility to serve all of humanity who are oppressed. In our own country it’s the battle of different ideals and values. Am I glad for the system that has laws for keeping substances away from my son? Every day. Am I thankful for a system that keeps harm in prison and away from my family? Every day. Though I’m very capitalistic in many of my views, I would rather see us “spending tens of billions of dollars and keeping over a million Americans in prison, away from their families just because they chose marijuana, instead of tobacco or alcohol”, than have those kind of influences where they will do more harm than good.
We need to stop being so intent on being right and look more for doing right. It is cliche but freedom isn’t free and it doesn’t mean we can do whatever, whenever we want.
The fact is that there are different levels of governing. Government needs to catch up with the evolution of crime and its’ consequences. In the mean time, it is up to us to put the leaders in to office that we see fit; who will do their best to keep up with the many unforseen changes that our founding fathers were not able to see.
To complain and smash pumpkins may be peaceful and get us thinking, but it’s where we go from there that counts.