To the editor:
It's never a waste of time to vote or, for that matter, run for elected office. Even if you or your preferred candidates do not win, you are still exercising the political liberties needed to help form a more perfect union.
The Declaration of Independence is a radical press release to all men and women of every culture, background and belief. It says, without apologies, that all of mankind is created equal and entitled to certain human rights — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It leaves it up to us to fill in the details through the exercise of political liberty.
These liberties are the freedom of speech, press, petitioning and assembly as well as the freedom to vote and be voted for. Each generation has a responsibility to learn about our nation's history, to see what it has done right, what it needs to work on, and use the exercise of political liberty to change undesirable or unjust attitudes and laws.
The injustice can be directed at a particular group of people seeking their human rights, such as discrimination on the account of race, color, class, creed, ethnicity, disability, age, sex or sexual orientation.
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Sometimes the injustice lies within how we choose to conduct elections. Both major political parties have attempted, sometimes succeeded, to exclude citizens or candidates from the process because they dislike how certain citizens would likely vote or they disliked the ideas being promoted by the new or minor political party.
This doesn't mean that people should just give up or resort to political violence. Apathy doesn't change undesirable legislation and political violence is unacceptable in a nation with a strong First Amendment.
The solution is to keep participating in the political process and keep exercising those political liberties and if you're orderly and consistent about your participation, the system does gradually respond to you.
Edward TJ Brown
Parkers Prairie, MN
The Trust Project
