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Voting is free speech and should be protected as such
To The Reader's Forum:
Why aren't voters and their votes protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment?
When we vote, we speak; we express in writing whom we want to represent us and whom we do not want to represent us, based on shared political values.
According to the Supreme Court, independent expenditures for political communications by corporate, organizational, and other wealthy donors, is protected Free Speech (Citizens United decision). Why not voters and their votes? Aren't they more important in our election process than "electioneering communications"? I think so though our Supreme Court refuses to recognize this constitutional question in elections for our congressional representatives in states with gerrymandered, voting districts (Rucho v Common Cause decision).
As you likely know, partisan gerrymandering manipulates the boundaries of electoral constituencies within states, by redrawing voting districts, to achieve a predetermined result in elections for congressional representatives. When state governmental representatives gerrymander, they identify certain preferred speakers, i.e., voters, in order to predetermine for the public the worth of certain classes of voters in their states, on the basis of political-party affiliation, etc. In so doing, they deprive the disadvantaged person[s] or class, i.e. voters, of the right to use speech, i.e., their votes, to strive to establish worth, standing, and respect for their voice as solemnized in their ballots.
Essential to the preservation of our democracy is the power to elect our representatives. And that power is reserved to the people. Our representatives may not re-elect themselves or their successors as their terms end. That is up to us. We are citizens of a republic, not subjects under the power of a separate state.
Maurice F. Baggiano, J.D., published legal author, former adjunct faculty member at Gannon University (Erie, PA) and the Rochester Institute of Technology, member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court
Jamestown
Concern over recent events in Ukraine
To The Reader's Forum:
Ukraine has been invaded by Putin's Russia. This is a fact! Another fact is that the United States has befriended Russia and is blaming Ukraine for defending itself from Russian aggression! As I write, the U.S. government has withheld "Starshield", which is the military version of "Starlink", the Elon Musk satellite system that has protected Ukraine, at least in part, from Russian ballistic missile attacks against the Ukrainian people and energy infrastructure. Russian missile attacks simply allow Russia to KILL the people of Ukraine and destroy its energy infrastructure at will.
The U.S. has gone so far as to make an illegal "deal" with Russia to buy diesel fuel to extend its war-fighting capability in Ukraine, even though the "deal" is destined to fail. There is bipartisan opposition to that "deal" but we'll have to wait for Congress, or the courts, to act.
In the meantime, in spite of polls which show that a vast majority of the American "Starshield" people support the people of Ukraine and hold the Russian government responsible for the war in Ukraine, the people of Ukraine will continue to suffer and/or die due to the loss of “Starshield".
Someone in the White House is responsible for "Starshield" being turned off. Elon Musk indicates "Starshield" is contracted for by the Pentagon (the U.S. Military). Trump refuses to name names when asked, but he does not deny the U.S. government is responsible. If Trump is the head of the U.S. government either he'll accept responsibility or he'll blame someone else. Time will tell.
Just today, Trump prevented the legislation named after Lindsey Graham from going into effect that would sanction Putin’s Russia for its pressure on Ukraine. Some people will call that action “treasonous”!
Trump can end the war in Ukraine, but he must get tough with Putin and treat him as the enemy he is!
Paul L. Demler
Jamestown
Close your eyes, cover your ears, say nothing about Israel's genocide
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is reportedly busy writing checks to "influencers" who support Israel, paying some $7,000 per article.
Does one of those checks go to syndicated columnist Cal Thomas? In an October 3 column in the Jamestown Post-Journal, Thomas heaped praise on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It wasn't subtle. Thomas echoed Netanyahu's claim that the UN delegates walking out of his appearance before the UN were "moral cowards." Representatives of 77 nations left the hall.
What Thomas doesn't report is that many of the other delegates didn't bother to show up at all, expecting only boilerplate Netanyahu propaganda. True to form, the Israeli prime minister told the few delegates left in the U.N. hall, "We'd all be dead if he and the U.S." had not blocked Iran from its ability to create a nuclear weapon" -- by bombing Iran and killing Iran's Supreme Leader (who was well known for his religious opposition to creating nuclear weapons). Netanyahu also ignored the Israeli-inspired lie of 23 years earlier claiming Iraq had nuclear wagons and was going use them on the U.S. Never questioning why there is universal opposition to Israel, Netanyahu attacked the delegates and protestors outside the U.N. as being deliberately blind, implying that they were jobless and paid to demonstrate.
Overwhelmingly the American public in the past has closed their eyes and covered their ears about Israel's crimes, but finally when those crimes have become so egregious the world cannot help but see them, Israeli apologists have resorted to last-ditch propagandists like Cal Thomas to close their eyes, cover their ears, and say nothing. Thomas concludes that Netanyahu "deserves another term in the upcoming Israeli elections. And Thomas deserves a bundle of cash from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Roy Harvey,
Mayville