November 20, 2014 Board Meeting

As always, these are my opinions only and not the opinions of the Pendleton County School Board or any other individual Board members.

 

This was our first Board meeting after the 2014 general election.  Whether you were “thrilled” or “less than thrilled” with the results, I hope you agree that our system of democracy worked in the intended way.  In the long term, democratic elections will put the best people in place.  Integral to this process is the practice of free speech.  In my opinion, events at this meeting were another attempt to suppress my right to free speech (in the form of the weblog you are now reading).  My voters can rest assured that one sided debates on the merits of this blog and feeble attempts at “manufactured conflict” will not change my determination to keep them informed.  A Venezuelan political prisoner named Leopoldo Lopez wrote (WSJ Dec 26, 2014) the following (from prison) about his autocratic government:  “The ‘sunshine that disinfects,’ and the scrutiny that motivates good decision-making, no longer benefit our leadership.”  Thankfully we don’t live in countries like Venezuela.  Our country is run on the idea that institutions funded with public dollars need public scrutiny and oversight.