President’s Message: EDC is on the move!
Paul McNamara
Greetings Fellow EDC Democrats!
The EDC is on the move! May demonstrated that the EDC is getting stronger and becoming more of a political voice. Our impact last month was seen and felt across a spectrum of media and organizational outlets, demonstrating that the EDC cares about its community and is willing to do something about it. I think we all should be proud of our actions and willingness to stand up when it is necessary. June will be more of the same.
We believe we have a chance to influence and shape the direction of our community. More importantly, we believe we not only have the opportunity to do this but also the obligation. We are living and must live the civics lesson we learned in school. We are participating in the community debate and making sure our opinions are being heard and acted on. This participation is not trivial. History demonstrates that as Edmund Burke stated, ”All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing. “ This quote, while several hundred years old, is relevant today, in that it reminds us that we must participate in our society in order to have the society we want.
The month of June kicks off with a protest of Congressman Brian Bilbray’s discriminatory remarks with regard to undocumented immigrants. Please look at our website and attend. Our general membership meeting will be an informed discussion of the Immigration issues as well as a resolution on check points. We also plan to continue to write OpEds and Letters as well as speak at the City Council meetings. We need to stand united and so I am asking you to stand with us. We are at a crossroads in our community on many things. One of the most important is how we treat people. I am asking for the good men and women of EDC to do something.
Finally, the Street Faire was well attended and resulted in many new registered voters and new members for the club. I would like to thank all that gave time to support the booth and helped with its set up and take down.
Let’s continue to turn North County from red to blue.
Respectfully,
Paul McNamara
President
Congrats to EDC for all your good work. I can see there is a plethora of issues. Commenting on only one, I think it may be a good thing to mention somewhere in the resolution regarding traffic checkpoints that there is a higher likelihood of an arrest from an officer on patrol stopping a vehicle after an observed offense (a concept called probable cause) instead of using the “fishnet” method of stopping all cars during a checkpoint. As proponents of due process and individual freedom, we should be pointing out the erosion of our freedom when police (and,implicitly, the Escondido City Council) engage in this type of tactic. Probable cause is one of the more important tenets of our constitution. So, in addition to the non-productive time spent on checkpoints, the resolution should encourage the city to exhibit a healthy respect for the American legal concept of probable cause.