Letter to the Editor – October 6, 2021

This summer I had a great time getting out and enjoying family activities, visits outside, working at the July 4th St. John’s food booth and attending the festivities. I also worked at the Wright County Fair at the American Promise booth. At both events, I volunteered to work in booths to support causes I believe in. One that really bolstered my faith in our county was the American Promise booth at the fair.

American Promise is a national cross-partisan, non-profit group working solely on the passage and ratification of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to address money in politics. This amendment will enable Congress and the states to set limits on spending in campaigns and elections. I spent a warm yet delightful afternoon having discussions with fairgoers about how close we are to achieving this goal. When the last session of Congress ended, we were closer than ever to the 2/3 of Congress we need to propose the amendment (we have 222 of U.S. House members – we need 290, and we have 47 U.S. Senators – we need 67). Plus, we need 38 states to ratify, and so far, 22 states have passed resolutions in support of the amendment. And although we have polls and surveys that demonstrate broad support of Americans regardless of party, it was so nice to really see that evidenced in our interactions. Our Conservative pledge signers outnumbered our Liberal pledge signers by two to one. This is an issue where we can work together. You can check out the pledge and sign it online at americanpromise.net/ pledge campaign.

This experience is on my mind because we have just celebrated the 234th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. I surely am not, though would like to be a constitutional scholar, but this I know. Our forefathers struggled through weeks of heat and debate until they could finally come to an agreement as to how our government should work. On September 17, 1787, they put their names on the document that we still use to keep our Republic strong. Within two years, James Madison submitted amendments and just over a decade later, the then amendments commonly known as the Bill of Rights were passed and ratified. Since then, Americans have amended the U.S. Constitution 17 times, 8 of which were to correct bad Supreme Court decisions.

A bad ruling by the Supreme Court, The Citizens United ruling, along with the later McCutcheon decision, overturned the campaign finance laws in 24 states. It is time we passed an amendment to restore the American Promise of fair and equal representation to us all. We will be sharing this cross-partisan support with our state legislators and Congressman Emmer. We are citizens in a self-governing nation. It’s past time we take our power back!

Ardis Nelson

Wright County American Promise

Annandale