[Peace-discuss] DI editorial board votes
against democracy
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at uiuc.edu
Tue Apr 18 14:56:37 CDT 2006
Along with a contempt for democracy, the editorial board of
the DI, secure in the knowledge that they attend an elite
university, display a remarkable condescension toward local
citizens: "...how [can] a handful of citizens in central
Illinois know enough to declare the need to pull out troops
from Iraq"? (That's surely properly left to "political
scientists.") "No one outside central Illinois cares at all
what the Champaign township government has to say about the
war in Iraq." (Or, in terms you would appreciate, Robert,
"Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from
Galilee...")
They're also sadly ignorant of what a township meeting is --
roughly, the descendent of the New England town meeting -- and
how it differs from the city council. AWARE has in fact
arranged for local voters to express their opinions --
something the supporters of the war worked hard to *prevent*.
Political ignorance being what it is among American
undergraduates, few of them will have heard of Thomas
Jefferson's warning, near the end of his life, that the elites
"fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers
from them into the hands of the higher classes," while those
who actually do believe in democracy "identify with the
people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as
the most honest and safe, although not always the most wise,
depository of the public interest."
Here's hoping for some serious political education for the
sophomoric editors of the DI.
Regards, Carl
---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:36:12 +0000
>From: "Robert Dunn" <prorobert8 at hotmail.com>
>Subject: RE: [Peace-discuss] DI editorial board votes against
democracy
>To: davegreen84 at yahoo.com, peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
> well the reasoning behind the DIs argument is maybe
> that AWARE is not the Township of Champaign but
> there are alot more constuencies (sp) than AWARE.
> Central Illinois is predominantly Red America and
> the idea that fringe groups such as AWARE could ever
> get that much influence is beyond logic. When after
> Bush was reelected, signs were posted up proclaiming
> how stupid the American people are, some even held
> at the IMC "Vigil" in the usual condescending
> Leftists arrogance and elitism that the Left shows
> Middle America. Notice how i do not say the anti-war
> crowd, just the Left. Right-wing anti-war folks can
> show solidarity with Middle America. Even Carl
> Estabrook almost reached out to that crowd. I
> applauded him in his efforts in 2002 when he
> ventured out into the "boonies." Something which the
> Democrats have not the foggiest clue on how to do.
>
> The key is to lose the condescending elitism and
> behave like normal folk out there.
>
> here are some tips,
>
> 1. Lose the folks who refuse to bathe for political
> reasons. It is unattractive and downright hazardous.
>
> 2. Instead of demonstrating outside churches, why
> not attend the actual church.
>
> 3. Along with the church attendance, stop hitting
> the mainliners, go to the evangelical churches where
> there is more of a crowd. Remember, go to the
> service.
>
> 4. Stop political correctness from destroying the
> Left.
>
> Just a few tips for the Left in order to have a
> fighting chance at anything.
>
> Robert
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> From: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> To: Peace Discuss
> <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] DI editorial board votes
> against democracy
> Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 08:19:20 -0700 (PDT)
> >Editorial: UC attempt to end war fails
> >Township meeting neglects problems of the city in
> >favor of worthless referenda
> >
> >Posted: 4/18/06
> >
> >On April 11 at the annual Champaign Township
> meeting,
> >citizens got together to discuss items slightly
> out of
> >their jurisdiction - the war in Iraq and the
> >impeachment of President George W. Bush.
> >
> >The Township voted to place two referenda on the
> >November ballot. One will ask the voters whether
> they
> >want to withdraw the troops from Iraq, and the
> other
> >will ask them if they want to tell Rep. Tim
> Johnson
> >(R-15) to support the impeachment of President
> Bush.
> >
> >Ignoring first the question of how a handful of
> >citizens in central Illinois know enough to
> declare
> >the need to pull out troops from Iraq, or to say
> that
> >the president has committed a crime that requires
> an
> >impeachment proceeding, the Champaign Township
> just
> >wasted a whole lot of time. No one outside
> central
> >Illinois cares at all what the Champaign township
> >government has to say about the war in Iraq. And
> >wasting a once-a-year meeting to discuss it is
> >ludicrous.
> >
> >Whether or not you agree with the war or the job
> the
> >president is doing, the Champaign Township
> meeting and
> >the Urbana City Council are not the right forums.
> >
> >Every community has a representative in the House
> for
> >a reason. Johnson is Champaign-Urbana's conduit
> to the
> >federal government. He exists to take the
> community's
> >concerns to the national level. If a citizen had
> a
> >problem with his or her neighbor's fence, they
> would
> >not call Johnson, because it is entirely
> >counter-intuitive. Instead they would bring it up
> at
> >the next zoning board meeting or city council
> session.
> >
> >
> >In the same way, the citizens of Champaign, who
> >determine the agendas of the township meetings,
> have
> >lost their focus. Instead of concentrating on the
> >considerable problems facing the city and the
> >community, they have instead chosen to waste a
> meeting
> >on something that has no place in city politics.
> This
> >is reminiscent of the Illinois Student
> Government's
> >referendum denouncing the war. The ISG, the
> >predecessor to the Illinois Student Senate, spent
> one
> >of their last meetings in a fiery debate on the
> >referendum, which, as we all know, stopped the
> U.S.
> >from invading Iraq.
> >
> >If the citizens of Champaign had the right idea,
> they
> >would demand a town hall meeting with Johnson to
> >discuss Iraq and Bush, but instead they waste
> city
> >time that could be used to address problems in
> the
> >Champaign schools, the streets that invariably
> flood
> >every time there is hard rain, or a number of
> other
> >issues that would affect the citizens of the city
> >daily. If the citizens want to have direct
> contact
> >with Johnson, they could call either of his
> offices,
> >locally at 217-403-4690 or in Washington at
> >202-225-2371.
> >
> >What makes this worse is that Urbana decided on a
> >similar resolution in March at a city council
> meeting,
> >where the agendas are not directly decided by the
> >citizens, they go through a number of screenings
> >before they get to be heard before the council.
> At
> >that meeting, one of the members of the council,
> who
> >was unfortunately in the minority, Lynne Barnes
> (Ward
> >4) said, "I feel it's advisable not to discuss
> these
> >issues. My job description is to drive and direct
> >matters in this town."
> >
> >It is too bad the rest of the community did not
> feel
> >the same way.
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >� Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini
> >
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