It was disheartening to see our letter contributors on March 12 reverting to attacks on persons and political parties, rather than confining their remarks to engagement with the ideas and opinions presented.
Although Matt Tennis and I come from different political traditions, I found him to be a very intelligent and thoughtful community member as we worked together to attempt to add intellectual diversity to the CUSD Board of Trustees. His priorities and tactics were not always my own, but that’s how it is when you build coalitions.
It’s unfair to ask Tennis to defend Republican orthodoxy, given that I recall him seldom if ever mentioning party affiliation. I can say that Matt is no more glued to the lockstep wing of the Republican right than I am to the litmus test ideological purity that currently (and regrettably) characterizes the left end of the Democratic Party. We were both primarily interested in broadening the base of community involvement in educational governance and giving parents and families a stronger role going forward.
Citizens have the right to refrain from voting, and we can have a civil and quite interesting discussion about why that might be—and what, if anything, should be done about it. There are no points of view here that are “shocking”, to my way of thinking. Would our governing bodies be enhanced by requiring every eligible person to cast a ballot, irrespective of motivation, interest, or level of information? I don’t know—let’s talk about it.
— Carl Ochsner, Chico
