Ward’s site offers citizens
voice in legislature
By TIM PRINCE / Editor, Publisher
& President (Updated:
Friday, December 29, 2006 5:47 PM CST)
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| Tim Prince |
The only sure bulwark of continuing
liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of
the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to
maintain its sovereign control over the government.
— Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Montgomery can seem like a long way from Shelby County. Sure, by car
the trip takes little more or less than one hour but there are times
when ideas, legislation or sound bites coming out of Montgomery
leave many of us scratching our heads wondering “where did that come
from?”
Representative Cam Ward is working to make that disconnect between
Montgomery and Shelby County disappear. You see, Representative Ward
is implementing an online survey [scheduled to begin this Friday]
asking those he represents what they want from State government and
specifically what they want from the member of the House of
Representatives they elected. The survey will also be mailed
throughout Ward’s district in hopes that those more comfortable
responding on paper rather than online will do so.
Ward’s idea, while basic in its intent, is brilliant in its
approach; find out what the people want from state government in
ways that are convenient to them.
Nothing will ever replace the face-to-face interaction between a
citizen and those elected to represent them but increasing the
dialog between the two can only help to make our state and our
county stronger.
Now we must all know that simply requesting something on a survey
will not necessarily make it come to pass but my expectation is that
it will certainly improve the chances.
Those taking the survey will have the chance to select their first
and second choice for a wide range of topics and voice their opinion
on several questions facing the upcoming legislative session. The
survey will take only a few minutes to complete and can be found by
visiting www.camward.com; you should find a link to the survey
beginning this Friday.
So take time to complete the survey and let your opinions be heard.
Representative Ward is reaching out to us with this survey asking
that we let him know what we want done in Montgomery this
legislative session; the least we can do is respond.
And one thing we must all recognize as we share our opinions for the
upcoming legislative session: Sometimes the right thing to do is not
necessarily the most popular thing; that is where statesmanship
begins.
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