ED EMERY (R-126)
The city of Sarcoxie in Jasper County marks the most southern tip of my House district. Citizens of Sarcoxie are presently in the midst of a battle for the integrity of their community. A proliferation of pornographic video stores in the area has become the focus of a family movement called C.A.R.E.S. (Committed Area Residents Ensuring Safety). The group is over 220 strong so far and has organized into a steering committee and three working sub-committees. They are meeting monthly and building a network of contacts throughout Jasper County. The groups goal is to isolate and eliminate the evil influence of pornography on the communities it invades.
Assistance to the C.A.R.E.S. movement is coming from many corners. A number of state legislators are taking a personal interest and have offered to help. Several have similar problems in their own districts, and they know that whatever we learn in Jasper County will help them rid their districts of similar perversion. Local county and city officials have offered encouragement and support. Churches are banding together as well as community leaders and law enforcement agencies. National family-support organizations have provided research and legal counsel. The team effort is essential because elitist and irrational judges have made it increasingly more difficult to depend on our courts for any common sense judgments.
One of the first objections opponents will enlist is that we cannot restrain freedom of speech. That is the perpetual and mindless argument that simply repeats anothers claim without applying reason. Logic would define free speech as the liberty to persuade, not license to indulge. Freedom is not the absence of standards; it is the open debate of standards before they are applied or discarded. Immoral living and activity is not free speech. Immorality is merely rebellion against the agreed-to standards of society. Societal standards are to be of the people, for the people, and by the people. They are to reflect the will of the people. We have the freedom to disagree with the mores of the majority and even to try peacefully to overthrow them, but not to discard them. That is anarchy, and todays activist judges are creating and fostering anarchy by ill conceived and reprobate rulings.
The citizens of Sarcoxie and of Jasper County have resolved that, with or without the help of the courts, they will resist the spread of pornography. They have already shown the patient determination to prevail in this battle for their families and community. I hope you will offer them your prayers and support.
Editor's note: To contact C.A.R.E., phone either (417) 548-2329 or (417) 548-2322. Michelle Sommer is the founding member.
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