How far have we really come regarding our rights?
This morning, I’m searching the Internet for news when I come across a curious article: An analyst for MSNBC is suspended for a comment deemed “inappropriate” about the president. I believe with my whole heart that this is wrong.
We’re celebrating Independence Day, the day when our founding fathers decided they did not want to be under foreign rule, and did something about it. They, along with our soldiers past and present, have given us the right to speak freely and express our feelings without fear of wrongful punishment. What happened to free speech? Is it not his job as an analyst to express his true feeling regarding the president? I was under the impression that it was, and that our soldiers separated from their families by the two wars we’re fighting were there to make sure he could. MSNBC should not have suspended him. He spoke his mind, something more should be doing. This sets a bad precedent, one that deeply disturbs me.
Maybe I’m “too young” to understand it, but I still believe in the First Amendment, and it’s about time we honor our forefathers and respect it. Everyone has the right to express their opinion.
— Brandi Slawski
Salisbury
Annexation reform gives this 4th a special meaning
This July Fourth is not just another day of parades and fireworks. It has personal meaning for those who’ve fought for our Founding Fathers’ ideals. It will be a Fourth to remember.
I will remember the lifelong friends I’ve made during the many years of struggle. I will remember my uncle Charlie Snowberger, who began this fight and passed away before he could see us change unjust laws — and history. (I believe he knows, and rests better now because of it).
I remember people like the elderly, disabled man who counted out $100 in change to donate to the cause, and the generosity of Rowan County citizens who donated their time and fortune to fight the tax-funded tyranny of the city council. I will always remember people like Carl Eagle and Marie Howell, who made their businesses and homes operations centers for the cause of freedom. I will remember the births, deaths, tragedies and celebrations of individuals, who — despite all — had the courage to oppose “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and transformed unfairness and tyranny into fairness and justice.
I will always remember the unflinching courage of the few who stood against the powerful and arrogant to defend the rights of the many who were timid and silent.
I remember how thousands of different people from all walks of life — the wealthy, the poor, conservatives and liberals — stood together as one patriotic brotherhood against the tyranny of legalized governmental extortion called forced annexation.
I will always remember the greatest lesson I learned personally — that no matter how long dormant, how ignored and weakened, the hunger for civil rights and freedoms inherent in the American spirit will always rise again and will eventually prevail.
This is, after all, the United States of America. If the city councils remember nothing else, I hope they will remember that.
— Keith Bost
Archdale
Founding Fathers would have been proud of this event
Over the last week, I have read the letters to the editor on the gay pride event held in downtown Salisbury. Self-proclaimed good Christians have, among other things, lambasted city leaders for permitting and accommodating this seemingly pagan event. They have suggested that it should not have been tolerated, as it is morally offensive and sinful.
It is not our government’s business to take sides in religious matters. What is our government’s business is to protect the minority from the majority, to permit free assembly for the event and its organizers and participants, to allow protests and to protect the civil liberties of the protesters’ right to dissent, to ensure everyone’s mutual safety and to promote tolerance and peace. For this, the city and our police should be commended. If angry shouting and an uninvited kiss was the worst act of violence, then all that is left is for the offended preacher to turn the other cheek.
Homosexuality may or may not be a sin. Clearly, not all Christians agree. As we celebrate the founding of this great country, I am thankful that we do not live in a theocracy.
— Michael S. Young
Salisbury