To the editor:

We seem to continue to elect people who don’t understand

the principles of good government as our founders provided in

the Constitution. Those principles apply to every aspect, whether

it be in our lives or the government. These principles have been

ignored for far too long and they need to be resurrected and the

only way to do that is through education. We have been poor

stewards in the maintenance of these principles when it comes to

the people we elect. We apply them to our individual lives, but

we don’t apply them to the people that we elect.

The people we elect are granted the privilege of representing

us with the exact same rights as we have. They have the responsibility,

first and foremost, to protect those rights. Writing rules

and laws, imposing fines and penalties, and privileges are only

fair when they are applied to everyone equally, not a select few.

If an individual decides, under the guise of “compassion,” to

steal property from one person and either keep it or pass it on to

others, is that lawful? Of course not.

What, then, gives the elected representatives of the people

the right to do that very thing? Do we provide these elected

representatives with more rights than we have as individuals

when we elect them? Does the Constitution grant special

rights to these representatives just because they have been

elected? Do they have our “consent” to have these “special”

rights or powers? We have gone so far out of the bounds of the

Constitution and the government they envisioned, the Founders

would be horrified to see what we have become today. We have

an election coming up in less than two months. There is still time

to take on the responsibility as a citizen and investigate and research

the candidates that are on the ballot.

We the people can make this election cycle a record breaker

if we all get out and vote on Election Day to make Minnesota

a state to be proud of.

Roger Baumann

Wabasso