What's the Big Deal?

Thomas Paine, in his pamphlet “The Crisis,” wrote:

There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one. There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both.


This upcoming election is not a battle of “politics.” This upcoming election is not an exercise in discourse on esoteric ideas. This upcoming election is not a fight between the elite and the common man, nor is it a fight between religion and irreligion.

Those of us who live in the real world understand that men and women of all faiths, political persuasions and ethnicities agree that when their children’s education is in peril, we must step in together to remove that peril. I have heard the following statements from citizens of varied political parties, religions and races:

The future of our children has been threatened.

The teachers, whom we hold dear, have been assaulted.

The reputation of our county has been sullied beyond recognition.

This is not a “fear bomb.” This is real.


There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude. . .. Thomas Paine, The Crisis

I cannot tell you how many people I have spoken to who become visibly and audibly enraged when they tell me their impressions of the board majorities’ actions. When I talk to them, fellow citizens recount decisions made by the board majority, or they recall quotes by individual majority members – and one can see the anger, the indignation – the disbelief that this blatant abuse of power is happening in the United States. In Burke County. Without recourse.

Collectively, we have been frustrated and we have been tired. But we are not down, and we have just begun a new fight.

This election is about restoring priorities so that the Board puts our children first.

This election is about stopping the abuse of power by those seemingly drunk with it.

This election is about making the Burke County Board of Education accountable to the public it serves.

I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Thomas Paine, The Crisis

Thanks for your support. We are all in this together.