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Opinion
Smoky Mountain News
Meadows an embarrassment to his former state, district he recent revelations regarding Mark Meadows and his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the events that led up to it are eye-opening. The man who went from Jackson County restauranteur to White House chief of staff has fallen hard, his ethics and patriotism in question due to his blind support for Donald Trump and his stolen-election lies. He may even find himself in court. I was writing a column about Meadows for this week’s edition when I came across the following editorial from The Raleigh News and Observer. With permission from the Raleigh paper’s editorial board, we decided just to print their opinion since we seem to have the same feelings about Meadows. — Scott McLeod, SMN Publisher
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From the Raleigh News and Observer Here’s a question that might make Sen. Richard Burr smile: When will the N.C. Republican Party censure Mark Meadows? The answer, of course, is never. But that won’t hide the embarrassment that Meadows [who lived in Cashiers when he was first elected to Congress in 2013] is for his party or for the state he represented in Congress for seven years. He left Congress in March of 2020 to become President Trump’s White House chief of staff. The North Carolina Republican Party’s Central Committee voted unanimously to censure Burr for voting to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting an insurrec-
Peace on earth, good will toward men? To the Editor: Every faith tradition has special occasions to honor God’s goodness and mankind’s desire for peace on earth. Christmas is one of those special times of the year, and we are reminded of this hopeful and joyous message by our traditions. The Bryson City Christmas parade to be sure is meant to honor this spirit, but I am shocked that parade organizers would allow the participation of a group that sent a very different message by its presence in the parade. A military truck sporting a banner “Armed Patriots” was wholly inappropriate and contrary to the reason for the season regardless of anyone’s faith tradition. To call oneself a patriot implies a deep love of country and all that it entails. That means one accepts the basis on which this country was founded — that each of us is important and that government derives its powers from the consent of the governed, not from a group of armed men and women advocating for armed citizens and implying a potential for violence. The motto of this nation is “e pluribus unum,” “out of many one.” This country is a great melting pot of people and ideas, and we should represent a beacon of hope to the world, the idea that in diversity there is strength and opportunity while we work
tion. History may record that vote as Burr’s finest hour. Meanwhile, Meadows is emerging as a disgrace during a dangerous hour for U.S. democracy. Documents obtained by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol show Meadows participated in Trump’s effort to throw out the result of a free and fair presidential election. Meadows made a deal to cooperate with the congressional probe, but now is refusing to sit for a deposition, citing executive privilege. He also has sued to block the committee’s subpoenas against him as “overly broad and unduly burdensome.” He had turned over thousands of pages of documents to the committee, but is withholding some 1,000 text messages. The House panel voted Monday to recommend contempt charges. In advance of the recommendation, the committee released a report Sunday that contained new details of Meadows’s actions related to attempts to overturn the election results. The report said Meadows “received text messages and emails regarding apparent efforts to encourage Republican legislators in certain States to send alternate slates of electors to Congress, a plan which one Member of Congress acknowledged was ‘highly controversial’ and to which Mr. Meadows responded, ‘I love it.’” It’s also known that Meadows was on the phone when Trump pressured Georgia’s top election official to “find“ enough votes to reverse Trump’s Georgia loss. He also sought to have the Justice Department question the integrity of the election. The Jan. 6 committee wants to hear about those machinations. Crucially, it wants Meadows’s version of what Trump was doing as the Capitol was under assault and how he
LETTERS together as one nation. It is time that we get our priorities straight. Yes, I believe in personal freedom, but the common good should always be the touchstone of our journey together. When we put individual notions of personal freedom ahead of the common good, we have chosen the downward path to chaos and destruction. Honest dialogue, not guns, should light our way forward to a better future. Joe Buranosky · Colonel, USMC (ret) Whittier
Don’t abandon freedom of religion To the Editor: I see where Michael Flynn, former President Trump’s National Security Advisor, is calling for us to have “one religion” in the U.S., presumably Christianity. As a retired Presbyterian minister, I would like for all to find what I have in the Christian faith. However, my family’s history makes me have qualms on having one “official” religion even if it is Christianity. In France, from which my ancestors came, King Louis XIV made Roman Catholicism the official religion of that country. My ancestors
responded to calls for help from Capitol security officials and members of Congress. All this comes after Meadows’ history as a Tea Party firebrand and founding member of the obstructionist House Freedom Caucus. He played a key role in shutting down the federal government in 2013 in an effort to end funding for the Affordable Care Act. In his new book, “The Chief ’s Chief,” Meadows delivers a mostly air-brushed version of his time in the White House, but he does reveal that Trump tested positive for COVID three days before a presidential debate with Joe Biden, but Trump went anyway. Meadows, who said a subsequent test of the former president came back negative, did not disclose the positive test, putting others, including the 77-year-old future president, at risk. Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19 three days after the event. For North Carolina, Meadows is more than a figure in a Washington drama. He is the embodiment of how the state’s turn to extreme gerrymandering has opened the way for reactionary and incompetent candidates to represent the state in Congress. Before Meadows, the 11th District was represented by a conservative Democrat, Heath Shuler, who retired after the district was redrawn to heavily favor Republicans. Now the district is represented by Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who has found a way to be more extreme and embarrassing than Meadows. It has long been clear that Meadows is a Trump sycophant. Now the question is whether his eagerness to please included breaking the law. The Jan. 6 committee needs to take a hard line with the former chief of staff who never drew a line for Trump.
were Protestant and experienced persecution from the government. Protestant pastors were arrested and hanged. Protestant churches were torn down, up to 100,000 Protestants were killed in the “Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day.” I blame Louis XIV for this, not the Catholics. Catholics, themselves, have been victims of prejudice and violence in many countries, as have Christians, Jews and Muslims. This is what happens when government favors one religion over another. That is why our nation has, as one of its foundation principles, the “separation of Church and state.” That is why my ancestors came to this country and settled in South Carolina, where they could have freedom of religion rather than have a particular brand of religion forced upon them. Let us not abandon that freedom! Riley Covin Canton
Can you hear Johnny Cash? To the Editor: The late, great Johnny Cash wrote: “Don’t take your guns to town, son.” In the song, Billy Joe repeats his mother’s warning as he lays dying. Shot down by a cowpoke who could draw faster than him. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, two young men lie
in eternal rest. A third man is maimed for life. All three were shot by a young boy like Billy Joe who took his gun to town. But, the young shooter in Kenosha had much more firepower than the cowpoke in Cash’s song. Kyle Rittenhouse carried an assault weapon strapped on his shoulder. The jury found Rittenhouse not guilty on five charges leveled by the state prosecution. He will go on with his life. But, it won’t be that simple. He has gone into a room that he can never leave. He killed two fellow human beings. From a legal standpoint he may have done all he needs to do. Still, there is a moral question to resolve — was it really necessary for Kyle Rittenhouse to kill those two people? From a Biblical perspective how does he atone for his deadly deeds? He can (1) accept the facts. He can (2) confess his wrongdoing. That is where his process of atonement hits a snag, though. He can’t complete the third requirement — restitution. Those two victims can’t be brought back to life. That will surely haunt Kyle Rittenhouse. It should haunt every American. As Cash’s long-time friend Kris Kristofferson asked: “… who’s to bless and who’s to blame?” Can you hear Johnny Cash somewhere in the distance: “Don’t take your guns to town, son.” Dave Waldrop Webster
