In response to Mr. Gary Horton’s June 2 column entitled “U.S. Congress needs Freedom Fighters.” I would like to make an observation and also suggest a course of action that Mr. Horton might want to take in the future when he has issues with Rep. Mike Garcia or anyone else for that matter. To the best of my knowledge I have never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Horton face to face so my opinions and observations are based solely on his writings here.
As anyone who has raised children can tell you, when a dispute takes place between two of the children and the parent steps in to resolve the situation, the “truth” of what actually happened will always lie somewhere between the two kids’ versions of events…and unfortunately that doesn’t change much when kids grow into adults. We adults view the world through our own set of unique-to-us tinted glasses and hearing aides and everything coming in gets filtered through those before it gets to our brain.
Mr. Horton, to my understanding, has never actually asked the congressman face to face to explain why he voted a certain way. I can also say from firsthand experience that Garcia is most certainly not a person to shy away from answering tough and hard questions either face to face or in writing. I have personally witnessed this on numerous occasions. So, perhaps Mr. Horton should take the time to simply ask the congressman why he voted the way he did.
As anyone who has followed politics in this country knows, legislation that comes before the House of Representatives is seldom plain and simple in its language, and even more importantly in its actual meaning when finalized in legal language. This is true for legislation put forth by either side of the aisle. The “Let’s feed Hungry People” bill sounds great until you find out what they are offering to feed them!
Mr. Horton provided the readers with his “version” of what the bill Garcia voted against would do and presented it as fact rather than his opinion based purely on what the authors and proponents of bill told him it said.
In order to have meaningful and productive conversations either face to face or in writing on a venue such as this, let’s all try to listen as much as we speak and try our best to see and respect other people’s points of view even if we don’t happen to share them.
And isn’t it telling that when a liberal Democrat has a distinguished military career they are called, and rightly so, a hero, and someone to be honored but a conservative man like Garcia with a VERY distinguished military record is lambasted when he mentions his honorable service to our country as a combat Navy fighter pilot?
I and Congressman Garcia, as well as a person running against the congressman, Democrat Chris Bellingham have (served in the military). I will be voting for Congressman Garcia but I have the utmost respect for Mr. Bellingham (whom I have never met) because of his very distinguished service in the military.
Rick Barker
Valencia
