[Vision2020] City Council and the Pledge

[Tom Ivie]

Whoa!!  Back the truck up.  This would suggest that
our representative government was nothing more than a
bunch of puppets being manipulated by the masses. 
More the case than not, the representatives are just
that; representatives.  They are elected not because
they can be manipulated by puppeteers but because they
actually represent the views and ideologies (on one
level or another) of those that elected them.

I am thinking that the Mayor sets the agenda with a
little help from staff.  This does not require a vote
of Council or a public meeting.  It is a matter of
procedure.  Furthermore, the Mayor may amend the
agenda or the Council can vote to add something to it.
 The Mayor can also set the order of the agenda.  I'll
bet that if a Pledge were to be stated at the end of a
meeting there would also be people upset about that.  

The fact of the matter is that a pledge is not
required by the Code (City, County, or State).  That
being said, I don't mind doing it.  But I don't think
it makes a meeting any less official by not saying it.
 I look at it this way; some people say a prayer
before they eat a meal and others do not.  Just
because you may not, does not mean you aren't thankful
for that meal whether you are Jewish, Christian,
Muslim, Agnostic, etc.  If the pledge is not said,
that does not mean that anyone in that room is or is
not patriotic. Now the national anthem is a whole
other story!  A sporting event is just not official
unless the anthem is played before a game.  But, for
me, the same can be said of singing "Take me out to
the ball game" at any baseball game.  

--- Phil Nisbet <pcnisbet1 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> Chas,
> 
> You asked;
> 
> >So, if I am to understand this correctly... you
> feel that whether city
> >council members choose to say the the pledge or not
> is your business?
> >If this is so, then I'm assuming it is because that
> you feel in some
> >way it is within your power to grant or deny them
> permission.  Just
> >because you elected them doesn't mean you get to
> choose their personal
> >beliefs.
> >
> 
> No, we do not have the right to decide on the
> personal preferences of 
> Council Members, but we do have the right to have a
> government take actions 
> that the people wish them to.  So if the people of
> the City of Moscow want 
> their public meetings opened with a chorus of "Give
> me that old time rock 
> and roll", council members do not get an instant
> right to decide differently 
> and still expect to be re-elected to office.
> 
> Key here is the members reasons for actions,
> something that as elected 
> officials they really do have to make clear to the
> people who are the real 
> basis of government.  If the majority think their
> reasons are good, then 
> they end up retained, if not we end up with a new
> batch.
> 
> And if the calls they make are totally out of sync
> with the wishes of the 
> citizens, then a recall election can indeed be
> called.  I think that if they 
> voted to start meetings with a chorus of the Horst
> Wessel Lied, I would be 
> highly inclined to see the council recalled, just as
> a single good example.  
> I woud hope that you would join in such a recall if
> Nazi Marching songs 
> become the order of the day to start council
> sessions.
> 
> Phil Nisbet
> 
>
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