LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: THE PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY SPOKEN

Dear Editor:

Well, it looks like they're going to do it to us again. Less than three weeks after the election, House Speaker Bob Griffin is trying to get the gambling issue back on the ballot. This, of course, came after Griffin was quoted as saying, "As we stand here, I don't have any intention of bringing it back up."

Words like "shocked", "reeling", and "stunned" were used by the media to describe the emotions of the pro-gambling forces as they faced the election results concerning Amendment 3. Poor folks. Funny that the anti-gamblers didn't get such a level of sympathy after previous elections.

It's obvious that some elected officials are convinced that the people of Missouri didn't really mean what they said on April 5th. Rep. Herb Fallert of Ste. Genevieve said, "The word is out unofficially that we should let the sand settle...and get the feelings and opinion of people."

Rep. Larry Thomason of Kennett assures us, "Everyone felt there was a need to analyze what happened to see if it was a representative vote or not....If I really felt like yesterday's vote reflects the mood of this state, I would be satisfied with the results. But I think next time we will see a vote that more accurately reflects the mood of the people of Missouri."

The fact is, gentlemen, that an election reflects the opinion and mood of the people at one given moment in time and is representative of the will of the people. They cast their ballot either at the polls or by not going at all. We can't legislate according to the speculated will of those who don't feel the issues are important enough to go to the voting booths. We can only act on actual cast ballots.

I can think of only two explanations for the expressed opinions of public servants such as Mr. Fallert and Mr. Thomason regarding election results.

The first one is that they don't care what people think, and want to push through legislation that reflects their own personal interests. Being the father of three, I understand perfectly such thinking.

Children who persist in requesting something which has already been answered are employing manipulative behavior. They aren't really interested in procuring an answer but only want their own way. Parents are then forced to express displeasure in their behavior. We should send a stinging message to representatives who don't listen to us by voting them out of office.

The second explanation is a professional haughtiness. Lawmakers feel that ordinary people don't have a real understanding of the issues and haven't a clue about what's best for themselves.

If this is the new order of things, continually putting the issue back on the ballot until it passes, why even ask the voters for their opinion in the first place? Or better yet, since it's assumed that election results don't reflect the convictions of the populace, maybe we ought to re-do the 1992 presidential election.

FRED W. POSTON

Cape Girardeau