Las Vegas Sun

November 28, 2009

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Letter: Let Oprah and me pick our candidates

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

In the course of one column in Tuesday's Las Vegas Sun ("Who's voting for Oprah?"), Dan K. Thomasson eliminated the defining principle of American government: democracy.

In a blistering attack on Citizen Oprah, Thomasson said she is infinitely unqualified to address voters and tell them who she thinks would make a good president. In so doing, he inadvertently told Iowa voters, indeed all voters, that they are unqualified to select a president.

I share a common resume with most voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and Oprah herself for that matter, as I am an ordinary citizen who is free to speak my mind on who I believe should be president. In fact, I have been asked to caucus - publicly declare my support for a candidate - gasp! And yet I myself lack the extensive experience Thomasson says is necessary to voice an opinion.

I am a campaign volunteer for Obama, but that is beside the point here. Pick your celebrity supporter - Maya Angelou to Chuck Norris - and the question is the same: Who, if not ordinary citizens like me, Oprah, Maya, Chuck and caucusing Iowans and Nevadans, should be allowed to choose our president, Mr. Thomasson?

Paul Speirs, Las Vegas

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