Dear Editor,

In drafting the Bill of Rights, which were initially proposed as amendments to Articles 3 and 4 of our Constitution, James Madison was the first to argue that there should be sufficient (more than had been initially proposed) numbers of Congressional Representatives to preserve the closest possible relationship between constituents and representatives. He innately understood the importance of allowing citizens “free expression,” which included “freedom of speech” and freedom to voice one’s grievances.

In his Letter to the Editor, Mr. Douglas points out his father’s military service in World War II – a proud and honorable assertion regarding society’s debt owed to his father for his (father’s) service.

I too share Mr. Douglas’ sentiments regarding military service. My grandfather, a U.S. Army veteran, eventually succumbed to injuries he suffered during WWI fighting in Germany; my father, who is 101 years old, is a disabled World War II veteran who was injured in one of the battles in Morotai. I too am a veteran (Vietnam-era).

In asserting his father’s exemplary and honorable military service, he wrongly conflates U.S. military service and the oath taken by military personnel to “… support and defend the Constitution…,” with Ms. Parman’s choice/right to “… display her political affiliation….” In one disparaging assertion about Ms. Parman, Mr. Douglas has managed to turn the entirety of the “free speech” clause of the 1st Amendment (and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment) on its head! It is precisely the reasoning and cause for which Mr. Douglas’ father, my grandfather, my father and I served in the military – to “support and defend our Constitution” – which includes protecting Ms. Parman’s “right” to express her political views and affiliations in any manner consistent with applicable laws.

Finally, I must confess to readers that I am not intimately familiar with the arcane minutiae being argued by Mr. Douglas and presumably rebutted by Ms. Parman. This is a forum allowed to me, as a card-carrying Democrat, to express my dismay and some indignation regarding Mr. Douglas, who as head of the Gilpin County Democrats does not understand that the First Amendment is not “suspended” at the gates of a “government building,” as he wished it would. James Madison and Oliver Wendell Holmes would certainly be dismayed at the assertion and wishes made by Mr. Douglas.

Rudy Garcia, Gilpin County