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To the editor:
I noticed in the Oct. 17 edition of the Enterprise the sample ballot presented by the Republican Party and that their suggested plan includes voting “yes” for the change in wording of our NC Constitution regarding who can vote in our elections. Regardless of your party affiliation, and even though the Republican Party suggests you vote “Yes” for this change, I would caution both voters and the Party on doing so.
I believe that, based on what has happened in our news media in the past three years, it is absolutely necessary that the wording of our current Constitution not be changed. As we have all heard as they speak, the mainstream news personalities now use the words “resident” and “citizen” interchangeably and this has become the new normal. Now the terms “legal citizen” and “legal resident” mean the same thing, just as the terms “illegal citizen” and “illegal resident” mean the same thing. The reality is that a “citizen” and a “resident” are both now generally accepted terminology for anyone living in our state, and our nation, regardless of whether here legally or illegally.
The thing that makes the distinction now that the words “citizen” and “resident” are generally used interchangeably is whether or not the citizen/resident is here legally due to either being born here or having become a naturalized citizen/resident by going through our previously established legal channel to obtain that status. If one is a citizen/resident just living here but has not become a legal citizen/resident by one of these two means, that person is an illegal citizen/resident.
I make this point because the constant recent interchangeable use of the words “citizen” and “resident” to mean the same thing throughout our media has now made it so. The use is so prevalent that it has become accepted in the English language. As a result, if we vote to remove the words “legal” and “naturalized” citizen (aka ‘resident’) from our state Constitution, any illegal person living in our state could file a lawsuit against our state to obtain such legal status based on the fact that our Constitution would no longer stipulate that one must be a legal citizen/resident due to either birth or legal process.
Based on this, a lower court would be justified in allowing illegal resident/citizens to vote in all elections. And if a lower court were to uphold the current position that the illegal person wishing to vote could not do so, and that decision was then appealed to the state Supreme Court or on up to the US Supreme Court, it is highly likely that those courts would look at our original wording and compare it to the new wording resulting from voting “Yes” on this 2024 ballot. They would then likely decide that the majority in our state legally voted to change the specific wording by removing the terms “legal” and “naturalize” from our Constitution, thereby allowing illegals residing in our state to begin voting as proposed effective January 2025. Such a decision by an upper court would mean that anyone living in our state, whether legal or illegal, would be allowed to vote in every election, on every proposal and every issue, on a federal, state or local ballot taking place in North Carolina beginning January 2025.
Is that really a can of worms we want to open? As was recently stated in an article regarding discussion on this issue with Margaret Taylor, a law professor at Wake Forest: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” A majority vote of “Yes” on this referendum would pave the way for potential litigation and problems for our state and, depending on the future makeup of both NC State and US Federal Supreme courts, could deeply affect our state’s future.
Additionally and aside from the NC State Constitution proposed amendment, I would laugh at the constant rhetoric in the Harris/Walz ads saying that Donald Trump plans to give huge tax cuts to “all of the rich millionaires and billionaires” were their lie in this statement not so serious. Just think about what they’re saying and how ridiculous they sound. First, Trump never did this during his first Presidency during which the working class Americans became more financially stable as their income improved during his time in office. Secondly, the ironic part of the Harris/Walz claim is that if what they are saying were true, it would be them and all of their wealthy friends like Obama, the Clintons, Pelosi, Biden, the “ladies” of The View, the celebrities like George Clooney, Oprah and all of the other elite Trump detractors that would benefit from such tax cuts. So are they saying they’re going to get the tax cuts they’re talking about? No, they would never admit that; they just hope we lowly Americans don’t figure out the ridiculousness of their claim. They’re more likely just irritated and lying about his actual plan to again help the working class and let the rich elites worry about themselves.
There is no apparent reason whatsoever to believe that Donald Trump would do anything other than what he did to turn this country around during his first term as President, a tenure during which the working class grew to be in far better financial shape and our world was at peace due to the respect the leaders of other countries, particularly hostile countries, had because they knew President Trump would be true to his word.
I am a registered Independent voter, and I can easily see that Trump is the far better candidate to improve the situation in our country and the status of our country in the world’s eyes.
Gaye Schooler, Mocksville