WHERE THEY LIVE AND WHO GAVE

Last week the special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District caused me to make changes to Voting Alert Beacons #3 and #5, Listen/Ignore and The Money respectively.  WHY?  

First, some facts.  The final round election was held on June 20th after a primary which included a slew of Democrats and Republicans.  However, in the April 18th primary, no one garnered more than 50% of the vote.  So, the run-off election ensued between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel.  It was a closely watched campaign with heated debate on the issues of our day.  However, two facts caught my eye.  Jon Ossoff doesn’t live in the district he proposed to represent, and more money was spent in this race then ever before in any Congressional District race.  There are several numbers floating around, but a common figure seems to be $50 million plus.  WHEW!  The alarming factor is that the lion’s share of this money came from outside the 6th District.  Many PACS and special interests contributed, along with vast sums from both New York and California.

This has happened before.  Sometimes people who don’t live in the State, Congressional districts, or state legislative districts run for office in those same areas, and are supported by money from the “outside.”  When this happens, the local elections are influenced by national special interests and power brokers.  So, specifically we’re left to conclude, and it’s not a reach to see, there is little difference between what happened in the 6th District and the apparent Russian interference in the 2016 national elections.  WHY WOULD ONE BE ACCEPTABLE AND THE OTHER NOT?

Here’s what I changed:

Beacon #3 Listen / Ignore:  Regardless of local laws, IGNORE candidates who don't live in your State, Congressional district, or state legislative district.

Beacon #5 The Money:  DON'T vote for candidates who accept money from outside your State, Congressional district, or state legislative district.

Simple and logical, right?  The power of each vote we cast and all of them together is immense.  Don't forget!

. . .  remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her.   America’s best days are ahead of her.  They always have been and always will be.

Dave

Copyright © 2017 by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.  

BEACON OF HOPE

MAN (OR WOMAN) IN THE MIRROR!!! 

In almost every post I make to the Voting Alert Beacons Blog, I mention or call out the importance of fulfilling our personal responsibilities to ourselves, our families, our communities, and America, our country.  I will continue to do so in future posts.  However, nothing I’ve written, or I will write, will be as eloquent or on target as Michael Jackson’s song, “Man in the Mirror.”  It is a true Beacon of Hope.

My call to responsibility ensures that our America Freedoms continue and that the Voting Alert Beacons Vision is realized.

Voting Alert Beacons Vision

• Work toward the day when, through high voter turnout in our elections, we realize once again the genius of our combined American intelligence.  
• Give rise to a new higher standard of civil service and servant leadership.  
• Turn the tide on negative campaigning, and the influence of money and polls, so that elections become events of national renewal.  
• Strike the bell beginning a new period of enlightenment in the American democracy that will ring for millennia to come. 
• Renew and fulfill the original American Dream, the right to vote, for all her citizens, so that America continues to shine as a beacon for the world.

God Bless America!!!
. . .  remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her.   America’s best days are ahead of her.  They always have been and always will be.

Dave

Copyright © 2017 by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.  

BEACON OF HOPE - MLK by Kid President

The story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Kid President

What we do today, the things we say and actions we take, build our many tomorrows.  Things don't and won't always be perfect, but like Martin Luther King Jr, with love in our hearts and a clear vision of a better tomorrow, we must always relentless move forward.  God Bless America!!!

. . .  remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her.   America’s best days are ahead of her.  They always have been and always will be.

Dave

Copyright © 2017 by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.  

FREEDOM OF SPEECH ALERT

Our most fundamental freedom and right is the right to free speech.  It is articulated in the First Amendment to the US Constitution: 

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

With few exceptions, all speech is protected, including hate speech:

The Supreme Court has identified categories of speech that are unprotected by the First Amendment and may be prohibited entirely. Among them are obscenity, child pornography, and speech that constitutes so-called “fighting words” or “true threats.”

Freedom of speech has a long history in America.  However, now, for the first time, we are experiencing demonstrations that seem to be targeting speech itself.  For example, this is true of recent demonstrations at Berkeley, University of California and at New York University.  They haven’t targeted specific issues, but more dangerously targeted speech itself.  At times, they have been violent all the while claiming freedom of speech for themselves and their actions.  This is wrong.  Freedom of speech does not include a right to assault people or damage property.

Democracy is a marketplace of ideas that relies on the influx of new ideas of all kinds.  When this stream of ideas lessons, democracy begins to die.  Freedom of speech is absolute.  It’s not a partial right.  Giving more of it to someone doesn’t lesson it for someone else.  Like voting, freedom of speech is the birthright of every American citizen, but like all rights, it comes with responsibilities.  For each of us to fully enjoy freedom of speech, it’s critical that we recognize this right for others no matter how they and their ideas are different from ours.  They can say what they want!  We all can!  If we support this right and defend this right for others, then our own is assured. 

ALL PUBLIC SERVANTS AND ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES who swore allegiance to the US Constitution, and to protect it, have a special duty to speak out when freedom of speech is infringed by anyone.  When this happens, and especially when some use violence to prevent speech, those actions are hypocritical, disgusting, and un-American.   

THE MEDIA has a special opportunity and obligation to speak out when the right to free speech is threatened.  Their historical responsibility as the “4th branch of government”  demands condemnation of any action or effort to block speech whether it is from the left, right, or the middle.  In recent times, the media hasn’t alway been unbiased and alert to the importance of fulfilling this role and their responsibility.

AS VOTERS, it is our job to monitor and ensure that the public servants, elected representatives, and the media do their job.  After all, effective voting relies on the right to free speech.  It is the ultimate free speech.  Political disagreements, and losses in elections,  do not impact or lesson our duty to protect this RIGHT.

. . .  remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her.   America’s best days are ahead of her.  They always have been and always will be.

Dave

Copyright © 2017 by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.  

BEACON OF HOPE -- IMAGINE!

IMAGINE!  We are only limited by the size of our dreams, and the reach of our imaginations.  The vision offered in this song is attainable if we will look in the mirror as individuals, and take our responsibilities seriously.

A strong and united America can be a "BEACON of HOPE."  

God Bless America!!!

. . .  remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her.   America’s best days are ahead of her.  They always have been and always will be.

Dave

Copyright © 2017 by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.  

VISION

I wrote the first Voting Alert Beacons post on March 26, 2012.  A lot has happened in America and the World since I wrote that post.  To the point of voting and governing this great land, there have been two Presidential elections and a mid-term election, not to mention scores of local and state elections.  

Along the way, the Beacons have grown and matured.  I’ve added a couple Beacons and fine tuned several.  Through it all, my belief in the power of each individual vote, the wisdom of a voting America, and the increasing brilliance of America’s star has only grown stronger.  

Even now as all public talk seems filled with vitriol and petty differences, and the two major parties are entangled in some kind of grand intramural competition, we are all bearing witness to great American history in the making.  For the first time, someone not a career politician has been elected President.  It doesn’t matter that it was Donald J. Trump.  It matters that it happened at all.  It is a bugle cry to a core belief of mine.  A belief that drove me to create the Voting Alert Beacons in the first place.  

I believe that elected office is a public service opportunity, not a career.  That belief is embodied in the Voting Alert Beacons vision below:

• Work toward the day when, through high voter turnout in our elections, we realize once again the genius of our combined American intelligence.  
• Give rise to a new higher standard of civil service and servant leadership.  
• Turn the tide on negative campaigning, and the influence of money and polls, so that elections become events of national renewal.  
• Strike the bell beginning a new period of enlightenment in the American democracy that will ring for millennia to come. 
• Renew and fulfill the original American Dream, the right to vote, for all her citizens, so that America continues to shine as a beacon for the world.

Let us always remember that honesty and public service are the gears that drive our democracy, and we turn those gears with our RIGHT TO VOTE.   LET’S ALL VOTE!

. . .  remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her.   America’s best days are ahead of her.  They always have been and always will be.

Dave

Copyright © 2017 by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.  

BEACON OF HOPE - THE MOON

America, we did this almost 50 years ago. It was the result of the effort of many individuals, one day at a time. The success of the moon adventure was rightfully shared by every America.

Tomorrow, when you look in the mirror, ask yourself if you've done your part. Are you fulfilling your personal responsibilities to yourself, your family and to America? Have you said something kind about your neighbor, the leaders of your community and state, and the leaders of this great nation? Have you said a prayer or given a Meditation for our President. If not, why not?

God Bless America!!!

. . .  remember that America’s best days aren’t behind her.   America’s best days are ahead of her.  They always have been and always will be.

Dave

Copyright © 2017 by David William Wygant. All rights reserved.