I intended that my last contribution to the opinion page of the Recorder on the faux election in Conway on June 30 would be my last on that matter. However, a My Turn piece by Peter Jeswald published on Sept. 10 needs some clarification.

Before I address Peter’s comments, I want to outline some basic concepts in simple terms:

1. The United States is a constitutional republic in which our U.S. Constitution is the foundation of our laws.

2. The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 drafted by John Adams and predating the U.S. Constitution of 1787 is based on “government of laws and not of men” and is the foundation of the “rule of law” in the United States.

3.The Constitution embodies the concept of the “rule of law,” a primary reason and fundamental principle for the status of the United States as the most successful society in the history of the world. Historically, every culture/nation that has failed involved a breakdown in the rule of law.

4. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution (Article VI, Paragraph 2) makes “Laws of the United States,” federal law, the “Supreme Law of the Land.”

5. Before taking office, a municipal official takes an oath of office to support the Constitution and, therefore, the rule of law which includes federal immigration laws.

6. Sanctuary ordinances and bylaws have the objective of skirting federal immigration laws and are unconstitutional on their faces

7. Municipal officials that support sanctuary ordinances and bylaws are violating their oaths of office, flaunting the rule of law and adopting the “rule of men” to pander to the radical left.

Private individuals can take emotional, romanticized positions favoring illegal aliens against the wrongly perceived big, bad, racist, xenophobic federal government, one of whose critical duties is controlling immigration. The most common rationale for taking a position in favor of individuals who have entered or who are in our country illegally is that “they just want a better life.” It is probable that 98% of the people in the world “want a better life.” If you follow the logic that it is acceptable to violate our laws to seek a better life and individuals who think that having more money would give them a “better life,“ then those individuals should be able to steal from you with impunity because “they just want a better life.” How would you like that?

I have known Peter since 2005 when he did the plans for the gut renovation that my late wife, Jeannette, did to our house. I suspect that Peter and I would agree on 95% of the relevant issues concerning the town. Peter wrote to me and invited me to his home to speak with him personally. While praising me for all the “great work” I have done for the town, Peter made his position very clear: unless I changed my position opposing the sanctuary community status of Conway, he would not vote for me. Talk about divisive! This is the typical position of the left: either you do what we want, or we will take you out. For me to take any other position would have been a violation of my oath of office and abandonment of the position consistent with the rule of law.

I was not copying anyone’s language. I used the terms “faux” with regard to the leftist mob that followed its own agenda in carrying out an organized political hit against the most qualified person and “minor event” with regard to the election since it was apparently not important enough for the leftist mob to act in the best interest of all the residents in town. 

Members of a herd or mob can find courage under the cover of a secret ballot. Wonder how many of those who voted against me would have done so in a public forum in front of their neighbors. I think the faux election would be an excellent case study for the political science departments of the local colleges on the corruption of the election process.

What do these major cities, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Baltimore and New York, have in common? Marauding mobs, rioting, looting, burning, property destruction, increasing violent crime and homicide rates, etc. They also want to defund/dismantle police departments, are centers for the anarchist, Marxist Antifa and BLM movements, run by leftist politicians that favor chaos over law and order … and they are sanctuary cities. 

John P. O’Rourke is a resident of Conway.