Dear Editor,
I am writing regarding the “No Kings” rallies that continue to plague our lovely valley.
It seems as though the organizers of these rallies are confused, at best, on the definition of the noun “kings”. Our country is a Constitutional Republic. It is not a “monarchy” nor is it a “democracy”, regardless of how many times people keep erroneously labeling it as such. While I do appreciate these folks’ ability to peacefully assemble and while I disagree with their socialist agenda, I would fight for their right to do so, as it is one of the provisions of The Constitution. This is what makes this great Constitutional Republic of ours exactly that…GREAT. It is fine to assemble peacefully. You also have the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. What is the most shocking, however, is that the same folks holding these rallies sat idly by while the Chaffee County Board of County Commissioners passed the new land use code.
They fail to realize that the very thing they object to is being perpetrated on them here in our county. Kings P.T. Wood, Gina Lucrezi, and Dave Armstrong have taken away the landowners’ rights to use their own properties as they, the taxpayers, see fit. These same “protestors”, by their inaction, have allowed the Kings on the County Board of Commissioners to parse out peoples land to limit them to two acre builds.
Further investigation into the organizations who sponsor these rallies have revealed more ignorance. One of the groups “Ark Valley Indivisible” https://www.indivisiblearkvalley.com/, whose website exclaims “No Kings! No Dictators! No Oligarchs!” are a living contradiction to what they supposedly oppose. The land use code is an excellent example of what oligarchs do. Further ignorance on their homepage: the featuring one of the Kings, Gina Lucrezi, holding a microphone addressing the group. The featured speaker pictured is one of the main actors in making Chaffee County divisible into two acre parses.
While I do not wish to deny these folks their right to peaceful assembly or petition the government for redress of grievances, perhaps they need to take a civics course or two before they organize emotionally charged and factually incorrect demonstrations. I am reminded of my high school Latin teacher who would always say “Ignorantia remedii est; stultitia electio est.”-Ignorance can be remedied; stupidity is a choice. We need to start thinking critically once again, as these rallies are a living and breathing contradiction to logic and good stewardship. This is not good for our beautiful valley.
Brian Edward O’Connell
Buena Vista, CO.
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