LETTERS

NFL should replay game under new rules

I have e-mailed the following suggested rule change to the NFL:

It is obvious that during the Nov. 19 game between the New Orleans Saints and the Oakland Raiders, the count was not "fairly and accurately" conducted and does not reflect the "will of the people" at that game.

The chad (Chad Morton, running back) was severely dimpled and abused. In light of this we ask that the rules be amended to read that Chad cannot be dimpled or abused either by tackling, shoving, pushing or even touching. The penalty for tackling, shoving, pushing or even touching Chad will be to advance the ball to the opponent's one-half yard line and an automatic first down.

If this rule change is adopted, we further respectfully request that the fourth quarter of the game Sunday, Nov. 19, be replayed, under the new rules, so that we can get a fair and "accurate" count which will reflect the "will of the people."

TED L. BOYD
Biloxi

Don't disenfranchise freedom's defenders

My wife and I are Republicans who have consistently voted for Congressman Gene Taylor, D-Miss., because we agree with, not all, but most of his philosophical leanings and for the beneficial things he has been able to do for the Coast as well and for our active and veteran military personnel.

Inasmuch as he is a highly respected member of the House Armed Services Committee, we had hoped he would have stepped forward before this time to speak out in support of having the ballots of our active overseas military personnel counted in Florida. There has been a ground-swell of support throughout America to include these ballots in the Florida count.

The liberal news media and most Democratic politicians have either ignored or spoken out against the military ballot count. However, we know, and we are certain Congressman Taylor knows in his heart of hearts that counting these ballots is the right thing to do. Otherwise we are sending a clear message of disenfranchisement to the very people who place their lives on the line for us.

Our overseas military personnel who voted in the election deserve a strong advocate voice from the Democratic Party to support, rather than to abrogate, fulfillment of their constitutional rights. We ask of our Congressman Taylor, please, please set politics aside and let that strong voice be yours.

C. JACK &

ELAINE F. MARSHALL
Pass Christian

How can you recount what wasn't counted?

Why does your paper refer to the process going on in Florida as a "recount"? The ballots at issue have not been counted yet - they are the ones rejected by the counting machine. Shouldn't a ballot have to be counted at least once before it can be "recounted"?

What kind of society would throw away 16,000 ballots because a machine rejected them and not even bother to examine those ballots by a human? According to an article in the Times Picayune, a survey of the disputed ballots has disclosed that a substantial number of the rejected ballots have clear choices for president on them, but they were rejected by the machine for reasons unrelated to the presidential choice.

I guess I've lost touch with America.

I would have thought that the citizens would be demanding the ballots be examined.

Instead I see an America demanding that the ballots be thrown away.

BRILEY RICHMOND
Biloxi

Fiasco is final blow to our nation's status

For this nation to ever regain the status it held 40 to 50 years ago there will have to be some removal and replacement of many of the political and judicial individuals who are rapidly causing the deterioration of the rights of the people.

These individuals have allowed people to vote who cannot speak the national language. This is due to the political move years ago when thousands of legal and illegal aliens were allowed to take the oath of allegiance without qualifying to be citizens as required by law. This step in the destruction of the nation is now very well seen in the state of Florida. There is no doubt that many of the errors made were by voters who had no idea what they were doing.

This fiasco has reduced the status of this nation worldwide, has reduced the belief of the people born in this country that this nation is being run by upstanding leaders, and has totally eliminated any feeling of trust in our supposed leaders by the people who unfortunately installed them in office.

Perhaps something good will one day come of the circus now going on, but, God help me, I know not what it could be. The situation is and will be for some time, totally unfixable by moral people.

I would suggest we all lay back and allow them to deplete their own groups and perhaps sometime in the future the people will again rise to take back a country that was stolen from them by unethical individuals, presenting themselves as upstanding, honest loyal Americans.

ROBERT WHITMYER
Ocean Springs

'Excess of democracy' is a problem in itself

Once again people are calling for abolishing the Electoral College in favor of direct popular elections.

Folks express indignation at the notion that the "will of the people" should be thwarted by a bunch of "elitists."

I wish they'd consider the following statement: "The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right."

That statement was made by Alexander Hamilton during the framing of the Constitution.

Another framer, Elbridge Gerry, observed, "The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want (for) virtue; but are the dupes of pretended patriots. In Massachusetts it has been fully confirmed by experience that they are daily misled into the most baneful measures and opinions by the false reports circulated by designing men, and which no one on the spot can refute."

Substitute "mainstream media" for "pretended patriots" and "designing men" and you have our current situation.

People who call the Electoral College "outmoded," Hillary Clinton included, demonstrate that they've never studied their own government; thus proving the Founders' wisdom.

Too many Americans have accepted the flattery that simply because they're adult citizens they're somehow qualified to make decisions of national and international consequence.

Originally, the only part of the federal government that was elected by popular vote was the House of Representatives. The 17th Amendment and the perversion of the original Electoral College concept have placed election of the federal government firmly in the hands of the general public; contrary to the Founders' intent.

What people are calling for as a solution to our problems is actually the cause of them.

WAYNE L. PARKER
Perkinston Vice-Chairman, Libertarian
Party of Mississippi

Founders set deadlines to eliminate chaos

Again, our Founding Fathers have proven to be so much smarter than our present day "foundering" fathers.

Our Founding Fathers anticipated the political warfare that could erupt in deciding a winner in a close political race as we are witnessing today. In order to preclude this onslaught of vote-searching tactics by the candidates and their parties that tend to mushroom to the point of chaos, they had the foresight to institute a procedure that would be as fair and as simple as possible and to leave no doubt as to the winner. That procedure was to establish an expeditious deadline for completing and certifying the vote count; a deadline that wouldn't permit an idleness that could become a "devil's workshop." At first blush, this procedure might appear more chancy than fair, but in reality it has proven to be equally fair to each candidate.

It's no irony that after all the ballot counts, recounts, re-recounts, lawsuits and the reinterpretation of voting laws that the Florida Supreme Court after poring over finding a solution to the chaos (that our Founding Fathers had long ago anticipated), came up with a decision, none other than the "deadline."

In essence, it appears, and rightly so, that all the recounting chaos will be for naught and could have been prevented had the lawful deadline been heeded at the outset.

If any would feel that this "deadline" approach appears a bit simplistic, be thankful that there was no tie vote. The lawful solution in Florida and many states: the "flip of a coin."

Clearly, our Founding Fathers' intelligence was surpassed only by their common sense.

ARMOND 'SI' SIMMONS
Pell City, Ala.