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Letter: People have a right to run for office

The obvious implication is that we should not vote for some people because they are “dangerous”
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People have a right to run for office

I read the articles about upcoming municipal elections in the Citizen’s Oct. 6 issue with both surprise and concern. Most concerning was the implication that some people who want to be elected for local government positions are somehow “extremists” who we should be wary of. “Wingnuttery” was one term used based on an incident that our current major experienced. The obvious implication is that we should not vote for some people because they are “dangerous.”

There are some important points to make here. First, people have a right to run for office. Because they may have a viewpoint different from others does not mean they should not be heard, or that they should be vilified, or somehow seen as inappropriate candidates. Likewise, linking them to some concept of a “dangerous” freedom movement based on disputable media based data about the Freedom Convoy is unfair, biased and distorted.

Some of the people running for school board trustee are doing so because they have concerns about what is being taught in our schools. They have a personal and constitutional right to express those concerns. Across North America, CRT, and gender identity politics issues are coming to the forefront in political races. Citizens have the right to run for public office in an attempt to have input and to change the tenor of public bodies they have long been frustrated with. It’s called democracy.

I was shocked to hear some candidates’ comments who, in my opinion, are using divisive radicalized terms I have not heard since the worst days of the 1960s. “Colonized question formation tactics,” “Supremacist protocol of the us versus them model.” Besides being obscure, this kind of rhetoric is an obvious attempt to inject division into local politics.

Apparently, such viewpoints, loaded with radical ideological terms, are legitimate, while that of others are somehow a mysterious “danger.” There is a great deal of talk these days about diversity. Great. It should include diversity of viewpoint and position before anything else.

Perry Foster

Duncan