LOCAL ELECTIONS

In Missouri on the first Tuesday in April (April 4, 2017), elections are held for local school boards and municipal government. Because this involves thousands of candidates, it is beyond FRONT LINE’s scope to survey all of them and then report their policy preferences. Therefore, it falls upon you, the citizen, to find out who they are, and then contact them about why they are running and what they believe are the important issues to address. To help your conversations with them, here are just a few suggestions. Obviously, there will be more local issues to discuss. Check your local community newspaper to get up to speed.

Castles and Culture

For six years, Americans were glued to their televisions watching Downton Abbey, the award winning series created by Julian Fellows. The story spans 12 years, (1912-1925) of “gripping drama centered on a great English estate on the cusp of a vanishing way of life. … Americans fell in love with Downton Abbey’s Granthams and their family of servants and have followed them through sweeping change, scandals, love, ambition, heartbreak, and hope ever since. … Downton Abbey delivers wit, wisdom, passion, and a phenomenon that is, at its heart, utterly human.”¹ A global audience of over 120 million people has viewed it, and it is one of the top-ever programs aired on PBS .²

“Stories sympathetic to virtue, preservation of property, and admiration of nobility and of wealth can be told beautifully and to wide audiences,” said Jerry Bowyer in the February 14, 2013, issue of Forbes Magazine. Likewise, in Vanity Fair David Kamp wrote, “In its clear delineation between the goodies and baddies, in its regulated dosages of highs and lows, the show is welcome counter-programing to the slow burning despair and moral ambiguity of most quality drama on television right now.” ³

Dear friend of truth,
My eleventh summer was spent in a small, Norman Rockwellesque town where my brother and I and five friends were able to ride our bikes anywhere, day or night.

Even though we never thought about danger, these were the days of the Cold War, and news reports about Senator McCarthy were daily events. We frequently heard that “there were communists under every bed.” (Some of us actually looked under our beds to ensure that we were safe.)

One day, our band of seven observed two very hippie-looking kids coming out of a shack near the river. We were impressionable and imaginative children, so just one look at these two scruffy college-age people made us believe that we knew just WHO they really were. Communists! Although they were part of the local summer artist school from Michigan State, we decided that the art school was actually a “front,” and as good citizens, we must do our duty.

When I was 16, my younger brother and I, along with three friends decided to surprise another group of friends who had embarked upon a camping trip on Lake Michigan. Contrary to parental warnings, we slid our two outboards from an inland lake, around a dam, and onto Lake Michigan. Growing up, we had all heard stories of the dangers of sudden storms on this part of Lake Michigan where hundreds of shipwrecks have occurred.

The spring issue of FRONT LINE (presidential primary was March 15) documented Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s positions on issues. Since then, additional information has become available concerning their backgrounds or stands on issues, which we have updated. Libertarian Gary Johnson is now included in this summary, since he will be on all 50 state ballots.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive review, but it is a brief highlight of what distinguishes each candidate. There are clear differences between the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties as well as the candidates themselves. (See Page E-5 for the comparisons of the Republican and Democrat Platforms.) Whether it’s the how the candidates view the role of judges in making law, the raising of taxes, or national defense, the differences will make a significant impact on the nation depending on who is ultimately elected.

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With the sudden passing of Justice Scalia, the stalled confirmation of controversial appointment Merrick Garland, the awareness of judicial appointments and their significance is at an all time high. (The Judicial Branch) may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments. (Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 78) Western Civilization generally, and America specifically, owes a tremendous debt to the Holy Bible for giving, among other things, form and substance to government, language, culture, and law.

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Many questions must be answered first if Americans are serious about staying safe today. Staying safe means undertaking pre-emptive actions to keep our civil society from turning into anarchy and thus losing life, home, income, and constitutional freedoms. Two in particular are paramount.

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