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The impetus of this editorial comes from Goat and Candle's attempts to interview two political figures in Indiana - Senator Evan Bayh and Congressional Candidate Jill Long-Thompson (Second District). Neither felt it worth their time to answer our questions and I, for one, have to wonder why.
Senator Bayh's press secretary assured us the list of questions and information we e-mailed him on April 22 would be returned to us by May 30. One month after that deadline, we still had nothing in hand, except excuses about how busy the Senator was, and that the press secretary had been out of the office.
As for Jill Long-Thompson, the first excuse was that she was trying to hire a new campaign manager. Then, she was walking the entire Second District. I have to wonder how many Pagans she passed in her travels, and chose to ignore.
It is not that Pagan issues are so much different from a number of other groups who have the money and the manpower to actively lobby the politicians. We are concerned about protecting the environment, for instance, and want to know what our government officials are going to do to prevent wholesale devastation of our land and pollution of our air. We are worried about the protection of our civil rights in these days of terrorist activities and unchecked investigations. Should we not be able to ask - and get answers - to our questions?
Like many other religious groups, we are curious about the erosion of the separation of church and state. We want to know if our legislators are going to uphold the Constitution, or if the laws they pass will set us up as targets for fundamentalists, or need to be challenged in court.
The people who sit in the local mayor's office, the state legislature, or Washington DC as our representatives should represent us, along with everyone else in their district or state. If our questions are ignored, what does that say about how they are voting - on our behalf - about the bills which will affect us "back home"?
What does that say about activities like the "I Am" Campaign, started by the Pagan Unity Campaign a couple years ago? Do those postcards have any impact, or are they just thrown in the trash?
It would be nice if they could let us know.
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