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From: Honest Legitimate Questions From an Advocate of Freedom of Speech As Guaranteed By The New Osage Constitution
Date: 3/18/2006
Time: 2:14:45 PM
Remote Name: 67.161.128.50
To my knowledge, this message board has been initiated by the Osage Shareholders Association as an open forum to ask questions, raise concerns, and share information about the election process and the new Constitution. Every government on the face of the planet comes under fire when its electorate is confused, frightened, or simply does not fully understand what is happening before, during, or after an election. Not everyone is going to agree with the policies, procedures, and practices of a particular administration in power. Those that are weak or have something to hide usually attempt to quell dissention and simply cannot stand up to face the fire that is ALWAYS inherent in a truly democratic process. If the current Osage Tribal Council and the officials hired to conduct its business are strong and truly honest about what is taking place where it concerns their policies, procedures, and practices while in office, they should exhibit behavior toward the electorate that embraces honest and legitimate questions about what they are doing no matter how negative in nature they are or appear to be. If this is not the case, then the electorate needs to take a substantially hard look at replacing them in the next election with strong leaders who can face that fire, who are not afraid of dissenting or opposing views, and who will not tolerate their hired officials calling to intimidate, bully, or harass a member of the electorate, no matter how stridently negative the opinions they hold. Anything along these lines, where voters are made to feel frightened of sharing their opinions and making known their views is entirely unacceptable in a free, fair, open, and democratic environment. Such practices are beneath the standard and the quality of leadership that the Osage Nation truly deserves and should have available now and into the future, ad infinitum. Please refer to the newly adopted Constitution, Article IV, Section 3 A. I, for one, would be very interested to know if there have been any other such incidents that have taken place that have involved the current tribal administration. The way I see it, in not speaking out, we have only to fear the loss of democracy itself. Oh, and by the way, see http://www.electionpeople.com/enroll.aspx Can and will the Tribal Council and the OGRC deny that they have purchased this software program, have it currently installed, and are working with it to date? I believe that this is an honest and legitimate question that any member of the Osage electorate has the right to ask of our tribal leaders and appointed government reform commissioners.