The World editorials are often worthy of ridicule and derision, in my opinion, for forsaking sound arguments in favor of insults such as when the paper likened public participation to a haunting. Or when the paper labeled citizens who dare to voice an opinion or ask a question as “natterers“. The paper regularly irritates locals but a recent editorial discouraging local action denouncing the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) has riled people up across the continent. Below is a response sent to The World publisher, Jeff Precourt, from a county commissioner in Oakland County, Michigan that really takes the paper and indirectly, John Sweet and Melissa Cribbins, to task. Read and enjoy.
Mr. Precourt,
Concern for constitutional liberties is an issue with long legs. The debate about the proposed resolution to condemn Sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in the Coos County Commissioners Court travelled all the way to Michigan.
I recently became aware of the position taken by the World newspaper in opposing the resolution put forth before Coos County Commissioners that would have opposed the unconstitutional provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.
In the article published in The World the following line was written. “You wouldn’t go to your dentist about a broken leg. So why hound your county commissioners about national security policy?”
The reasons that citizens should appeal to their county commissioners about national security policy are because their voices are not being heard in Washington, D.C., and to quote the Declaration of the Independence, “government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.”
When the County Commissioners in Oakland County, Michigan considered and passed our resolution condemning Sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 NDAA, many of the same arguments now leveled against the Coos County Commissioners were leveled against us.
Oakland County is a county of 1.2 million people, and it is the economic engine of Michigan. We are AAA rated and ranked in many national categories as being amongst the best run in the counties in the nation. Our commissioners weighed in on this issue because we value and enshrine the principles found in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Our resolution condemning the NDAA was unanimous and bipartisan. We had people from local Tea Parties, Occupy, and PANDA all speaking in favor of the resolution.
How ironic that in this day and age when the whole nation is bemoaning hyper-political polarization, with political parties often taking positions at the extremes of left and right, that a major concern of The World is that this issue is bringing together “unlikely political bedfellows.”
And the problem with unifying the political divide is what?
Further, The World is asserting that the NDAA bill is undeniably, a “nasty piece of legislative mischief,” “gives current and future presidents unprecedented power,” and is a “dramatic expansion of federal authority.” However, the newspaper is also asserting that this initiative taken by the commissioners is nothing but a “roar of futility” in which the commissioners “have no legitimate role”.
We heard that same claptrap in Oakland County.
Fortunately, our commissioners understood that we the people have an important voice, and that our constituents elected us to be their voice.
After we passed the resolution that you describe as a “roar of futility,” the issue was taken up by the Michigan State Legislature. The state legislature then unanimously passed a bill through both the House and Senate prohibiting state agents and law enforcement from participating with federal agents in the indefinite detention of our citizens.
Fortunately, during our debate and vote on our resolution and the Bill in our legislature, our Michigan papers never deplored the “combination of political bedfellows” working on behalf of liberty.
I sincerely hope that you will reconsider the stance that The World has taken in light of our experience in Michigan.
Respectfully,
Jim Runestad
County Commissioner, District 6
Oakland County, Michigan
“The World” finally reaches national notice…
Where did you get the photo of Sister Mary Kathleen my second grade teacher?
I wish she were here to rap the editors’ fingers with a ruler for writing such drivel
The World is at last famous and it has to be for criticizing bipartisanship. Only in Coos County.
We’ll see if Precourt has the inclination to do the right thing. I know, I know.
He HAS to do something different now, can’t hang this crap on old Clarkie. It’s Precourt’s baby.