Sam Post recently provided a great answer to a comment on our Rowan County Democratic Party Facebook page. Many of us may find ourselves with insufficient answers when faced with inquiries that require an explanation about how our values fall in line with the Democratic Party platform. This is an answer that could be echoed in Rowan County by others.
The PEOPLE > GUNS rally in Raleigh on 9/17 was promoted on our Facebook page with the following short opener: REMINDER – YOUNG DEMS ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE – Following the tragic shooting at UNC Chapel Hill, Young Democrats, College Democrats, and Teen Democrats are standing up to speak truth to power – our voices will be heard!
The first person to comment asked, “What exactly are you speaking the truth about? The person that killed the professor has been arrested and charged…what else is there?”
Sam Post provides an excellent example of communicating with sincerity, civility, and basic information to the asked question.
“I’ll take a shot at answering that question. I assume you’re referring to the phrase: “speak truth to power.” I think, in this context, truth means democratic representation. It’s always been an important part of the American way of life. While North Carolina has never been a big fan of democratic representation, it’s been particularly pronounced in the current session. The state legislature is a Republican supermajority, but that’s because of gerrymandering. The only actions they have taken is to relax gun laws. The state is 50/50 red/blue. However, and more importantly, polls indicate that North Carolinians overwhelmingly support gun safety laws — but they have no ability to petition the state for a referendum, and they have distorted representation, at best. So the majority of people in North Carolina would like to make some changes about gun safety laws, and other things — but have no way to do it. The only thing left is to speak the truth, according to the Democratic point of view, to those who have power, which would be the Republicans in the General Assembly. They are not known for their listening skills. They used to have town halls on a regular basis, but they stopped doing that altogether a few years ago. So one way to speak truth to power is by holding a rally that hopefully gets some attention and thereby gets noticed by those in power.”
Sam Post