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The following is a Counterpoint:
By Christopher Knight

Malcolm Kenton's July 29 essay, "The people have power ... if they use it," promised a lot with its title. And I think that Kenton's heart is in the right place. But, although I agree with much of what he's suggesting, in the end I found this article disappointing.

Here's the problem with his piece: Not once does he use the word "individual." And that makes all the difference in the world.

In its place, Kenton is suggesting that we exercise our power as citizens ... but as collective participants in the current system. Not as individuals who not only can change the system but could choose to repudiate it entirely.

The Democratic and Republican parties have failed us miserably. But don't take that to mean that I have faith in any other party, either. The party system as a whole is destroying America. Why should we be expected to be accomplices to the crime?

I'm especially let down by many of my fellow Christians. Ours is supposed to be a faith that preaches the freedom of the individual and that God gives us strength to defy the temptations of this world. Instead I've watched too many believe they were being "good Christians" by voting straight Republican. It would have been just as bad if they had voted straight Democrat.

We have suffered almost 16 years of the worst presidents in American history: weak men who put their own selfish interests above that of their countrymen. Now I see both major parties present to us, for the most part, more weak men (and one woman) in the expectation that we have no alternative but to choose from among them.

Continued participation in such a bankrupt and corrupted system is not the answer. It is absolutely without moral reason to have any faith in the present system whatsoever.

But there is always a choice. Each of us can choose to "get along" with the system. Or you and I can choose to deny it, and find another way.

A political party spouts "no" and it is meaningless. A single person dares say "no," and an empire is rattled from its foundations.

If America is to have a future where she not only survives but also thrives, then we must completely and without apology abandon our misguided belief in collective might, and rather find our strength in the power of the one.

The writer lives in Reidsville.