To Mayor Bob Lenox: As an elected official you do not have the right to chose which voice of the public you listen to; it is your sworn duty to hear all commoners' cries. After all opinions have been considered, then and only then must you make your decision. Your decision, if be you a loyal American, should be influenced by the common man's desires. If politicians such as you had complete control over the government (God forbid!), the effects would be cataclysmic. This great American Empire (yes, Empire) and all of its promises of freedom, gifts of human equality, and cornucopias of plenty would go marching backwards into the past. Back to monarchical rule. Back to religious persecution. Back to that horrifically funny ideal of Divine Right.

For you to threaten punishment, be it physical, mental, or subliminal, to those who fail to vote is in direct violation of the code that hangs suspended over this country by pillars of blood of martyred men and women who died for America. It is a given right in this country to have free choice of whether one votes or not, and to be free from any punishment for failing to vote. The man who does not vote is exercising his American rights as much as the one who does vote. Will you next decide to keep a list of names of all who did not vote for you next to the list of those who did not vote at all. Will you then decide to strip they who did not cast their ballot in your favor of all their rights. 'Tis but a small step from what you already proposed to do.

Your pitiful statement that “No honor accrues to the man who only does what the law requires” deserves no verbose wording to insult or contradict it. Insultation [sic] and contradiction can both be accomplished by one simple, often neglected word: Dumb.

In today's violent society, obedience of lawful standards is a difficult, albeit sometimes impossible quality few possess fully. The man who obeys the law is admired, if not adored by those around him. Lawful obedience is often times synonymous with bravery in the face of danger, morality in view of immoral actions of others, and Jackson-like resistance to temptation. I, for one, highly regard the man who obeys the law, for that is one's patriotic duty. I believe that Gen. Robert E. Lee was unshakably correct when he said, “Duty is the most sublime word in our language; you should do duty in all things; you cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.”

As for your opinion that only controversial thoughts are allowed recognition today, you apparently have been in office too long to remember what it is like to campaign. Those who are elected did not reach office by filling their campaign speeches with controversial statements, but rather with silver-lined promises, though the promises may in turn discover themselves to be empty and void of fulfillment.

Possibly you have forgotten who has the power in America? Must I, a simple teenager, remind you that holding political office does not carry with it the gift of power; for it is the commoners, the peasants, that hold power in our country. If you ever fail to remember this, perhaps political power has affected you too much, and you should turn in your badge, and retire to the relative safety of your house.

As a closing note, I must mention that it is your duty, along with all your other political comrades, to insure that government of the people, by the people, for the people, (not government of the voting people, by the voting people, for the voting people) shall not perish from the earth.

Matthew Bryan Roberts
Peachtree City

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