Editor:
The Aug. 18 paper carried a letter from a Durango writer who wants to replace Congressman Tipton with Sal Pace for not doing his job. He was unhappy that Tipton supported bills/issues that he disagreed with, so wants to replace him with someone he agrees with. We definitely should evaluate our representatives on the job they are doing and replace them if they dont do the job. So what is the congressmans job description? It is his oath of office!
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the Untied States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose or evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office which I am about to enter: So help me God.
What are the rules he is to protect and follow? It is the previously agreed-upon Constitution of the United States! It is not to do nice things to please some people.
Calvin & Hobbes constantly change the rules as the game is in progress to accommodate the desires of Calvin so that he wins. Can the ref in a football game make up a new rule following a play the ref didnt like? That is what some people want and has been happening in Congress for the past almost 100 years, and now we are paying for it!
The writer should check Paces record in the state Legislature, to see if he actually performed according to his oath of office for the state, or did he try to please people? All congressmen and state legislators should be held strictly to their oath of office and evaluated based on their performance according to the pre-established rules, the constitutions. To evaluate them, we each need to actually read the constitutions, to know how to legitimately evaluate them. We need to elect and/or support persons who can be trusted to perform their job as they have sworn before God to do.
Dexter Gill
Lewis
