Unity Is The Only Path Forward! If you watch the news, you would think our nation is at war with one another. Pundits place us on one side or another and politicians take advantage of the wedge issues that play well on split-screens across the country. According to popular narratives, we either love the police or hate the police; we are either pro-choice or pro-life; we are pro-gun or anti-gun. Of course nothing is so black and white. Republicans are not a monolith and neither are Democrats. 

Our County Commissioners recently passed a resolution in a blatant effort to seize on one of the biggest wedge issues of our time. The Second Amendment has been used as a weapon against Democrats for years. The general position spouted by Republican pundits is that Democrats want to take guns away and repeal the second amendment. This is not true, especially here in Transylvania County. Neither myself nor the other Democratic candidate for County Commissioner last year ever made a statement about gun rights. Truthfully, I don’t have a problem with responsible gun ownership. Both here in Transylvania County and in my native Eastern Carolina, hunting is a part of our lifestyle. Guns are not scary to me, and I don’t believe we need to repeal the Second Amendment. Gun laws are a federal issue and not affected by any of our commissioners' actions. Our commissioner’s desire to pass the resolution was purely political, plain and simple.

All of us in Transylvania County have more in common than not. We believe in community and respect for one another. We believe in truth and kindness. We believe in the ideals of our nation and the democratic values that underpin its existence. Unfortunately, democracy has revealed itself to be more fragile than we once thought. After our last election, it became clear that the very foundation of our democracy, a free and fair election, was under attack by our own citizens. Most notably, our president at the time perpetrated lies about the integrity of the election that ultimately led to the violence which occurred at our capital on January 6th.

If the commissioners are going to pass toothless resolutions like the one they passed earlier this year, they should certainly adopt the Unity Resolution proposed by former commissioner Mike Hawkins. It is clear that our elections at all levels were free and fair. Just as I lost my election to my opponent, Donald Trump lost his election to Joe Biden. These facts are not in dispute, but they continue to be used in extreme right wing circles that our commissioners and other Republican politicians take advantage of for the purpose of dividing us. In order to move forward as a community, we must unify to move towards a more perfect union, not away from it. Locally, we have experienced a lot of hate and attempts at violence. We have seen racist notes scattered around town and bombs left around our government offices. It is clear we  need leaders who are prepared to bring us together. In this time of social distance, I urge our County Commissioners to pass the resolution which acknowledges the foundations of our democracy; truth, decency, and above all unity. 

If you feel as I do, please contact your Board of Commissioners to urge them to add the Unity Resolution to their agenda.

Signed, Doug Miller

Former candidate for Transylvania County Board of Commissioners