Official Campaign Blog for Richard A. Olivito's Race for the 95th District's Ohio House
Its Begun: The Effort to Bring True Reform to both Ohio and the Ohio Valley; things will never be quite the same again...
Here, on this blog, we welcome robust commentary and sharing of ideas, critiques and dialogues. We welcome everyone's input regardless of party affiliation and/or nationality, race, creed, gender and/or socioeconomic status; even my open opposition is welcomed [Ohio Supreme Court Justices, i'm not so sure..but we'll see...]
Democracy means participation and it means becoming aware of the issues and making your voice heard
When Iranians of all backgrounds are involving themselves in democratic public protests with severe consequences to their leader; they are choosing democracy over their own personal ambitions.
When Greeks took to the streets of Athens and others citites across their nation, in the past year protesting the police shooting of one innocent young Greek man, these human rights protesters are being democratic, not problematic
When Lebanese and Syrians marched in the aftermath of the assasination of a popular democratic reform leader, they were showing people power over that of elite power structures
When a Saudi prince was disbarred last year as a practicing lawyer for standing up for women's rights in marriage, inside of his father's house in Saudi Arabia,..a ripple of Democracy was served at the expense of a courageous young lawyer's chosen profession
When two russian journalist were killed in separate but serious mysterious manner, for their courageous reporting on the true nature of the present "open government" of their homeland, they no longer live; but their memory lives on...
When one Italian prosecutor stood up against his nation's legacy and stood tall for justice in the past decade in Sicily and other regions of my native country; democracy was encouraged in the land of Ancient Rome once again...
When young chinese students stood in front of tanks and at times were crushed, they sent a message; democracy means something
When Mandella got out of prison and became South Africa's First Black President; He was saying, Democracy and human rights matter...
When we end the terrible CIA practice called Rendition sometime in the future in this nation, we will tell the world; we too believe in human rights for all...
When Martin and Bobby were leading millions in a new era of liberty and civil rights in America, in the sixties, there was a new breath of our Founder's meaning and purpose washing over America, ...we today, have all benefitted tremendously from their courage;
they died, we party....
When Robert Moses led a movement deep down in Mississippi as a teacher along with many others from the north, and helped free young people's minds from a hundred years of jim crow, he was teaching democracy ...to a new generation of Americans, all across the nation... and he lives on today to teach algebra to disenfranchised children near Boston
When Jonathan Door, a moderate republican lawyer, was sent to the South by Eisenhower and was sustained by Robert Kennedy, he changed forever at great personal risk, the legal means by which the white power structure of the Southern planter class had given American history its most enduring legacy. Growing a genuine Democracy was his fundamental inspiration.
Its time therefore, for us in the valley, to stand up, rise up and take our place in this valley and in our own way, our own native history, as citizens, not just Ohio Valleyians and Ohioans but as citizens of a great nation called America, which can invent itself, every now and then, from bottom up....
[just ask a revolutionary named George Washington or some self taught solo lawyer named Abe Lincoln...if that's true or not...]
....its the right of the people to peacefully assemble and its the constitutional right of all us, here, as American's to be treated equally, to afforded our human rights which our Founder's indicated was a gift from God and to live with fairness and justice for all, not the few...to be allowed to participate freely free from retaliatory reactions from the local, state and even federal judiciary and all systems of our government, the government which is supposed to be "of, by and for the people..."
But far too many of us, in Ohio, know the experience of our local and state government, in Ohio, to not be fair, to not be true, and to not be fully democratic, despite whatever party lable they adhere to...
and we know, Ohio is a state, oftentimes, in its local government, in many regions, that allows for a certain kind of ecnomic and social marginalization and a certain kind of disavowal, a mistreatement of the poor and the working classes, even when one has done all that she/he could have to promote the fundamental civil liberties of all Americans...in the name of democratic ideals...
While their are many doing very good work inside of both public and private sectors, there is a fundamental need for a change in the direction of our state...and our leadership...
Indeed, Its time to take back Ohio, one valley at a time....
and we've chosen our own....to begin
join me, here...and lets take this journey forward into the future, while we raise the voice of the people of the 95th district so it can be once again, heard loud and clear across our state, in downtown Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati and from there, around the world, including, especially our own...
John Bingham, a lawyer and original republican congressman from Cadiz, Ohio [born in Mercer Pa] changed America, forever.
ReplyDeleteHis powerful oratory on the House of Representative's floor helped to changed the northern opinion against the southern slavey system and his work for the Lincoln administartion and for the Abolitionists' Republicans in Congress, in the aftermath of War and Lincoln's assasination is unequaled by any other of his day...having become the lead prosecutor for the Lincoln assasins and thereafter, for President Andrew Johnson's impeachment effort.
Yet, Bingham's most enduring and lasting contribution and legacy perhaps, is his work on the 14th Amendment and his powerful leadership in creating and then promoting such a foundational part of the American modern legal framework passed thru the 39th Congress...just before Reconstruction would end.
Today, the 14th remains an enduring bulwark for freedom and our fundamental constitutional liberties throughout every level of our system and beyond.
The 14th amendment is the work horse engine that drives the first principles of what our nation is supposed to stand for and its the bright shining document contained within our modern constitutional law and it still contains the most serious content and issues which underly our most pressing, present debates on the nature of our democracy and the meaning of our citizenship as natural born citizens of one nation, called America