Power of the people should be respected
As a high school history teacher, I think it’s always good to remind the powers that be of the real source of their power.
Power comes from the people in a democratic society such as ours. The Roman writer Ovid wrote, “The purpose of law is to prevent the strong from always having their way.” This is clearly a message that has been lost with the presence of an ill-advised 1959 state law that allows involuntary annexation.
In the late 1600s, an English philosopher named John Locke wrote that people have “natural rights.” Among these, he said, were the rights of life, liberty and property.
Locke also believed in something else that is critical to this whole annexation argument: Consent of the governed. Locke stated that governments exist and operate by the will (permission) of the people. Locke’s ideas are at the very heart of what this nation stands for. Thomas Jefferson borrowed heavily from Locke’s ideas when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the people of the N.C. 150 corridor spoke against the proposed annexation. I asked for the City Council to hear us. Mayor Kluttz assured me that they were listening to us. If that is really true, then please call this proposed annexation to an end as quickly as possible. The City Council and the people of the Highway 150 corridor have better things to do with their money.
ó David Beaver
Salisbury