Letter: Citizens must get involved

Tuesday, March 5, 2002 | 8:49 a.m.

If you put semantics aside, letter writers Ron Danish and Sondra Cosgrove are both right. We are a republic and a representative democracy.

Our destinies are controlled by 100 senators and 435 congressmen who unfortunately are practically unsupervised because of the low participation by citizens in political activism.

The reasons are varied from complacency to disinterest, and one of the main reasons is our poor educational system, which rarely teaches civics. Instead we have liberals tearing down portraits of our founders because they judge them (our founders) out of historical context.

We all should read or re-read the Declaration of Independence to re-affirm that our founders outlined our role, in citizen political activism, as a right and duty to petition government.

Now that we are at war, it is more essential that we participate in our representative democracy. Phone, write, e-mail and fax politicians to keep them honest.

Enron, Global Crossing, Arthur Anderson, our energy policy and Yucca Mountain are all connected. Ask Congress to explain it to you! Vote with knowledge and never vote the straight party ticket. Vote for the best person.

FRANK PERNA