The article ‘House lawmakers push for state lottery’ placed into the forefront an issue much more significant than a state lottery, in my opinion. The last paragraph stated “Mississippi voters chose to legalize the possibility of a state lottery in 1992, but many legislatures oppose the games of chance because of religious reasons.” Separation of church and state in accordance with the Bill of Rights has been widely discussed in recent years related to many such issues. However, perhaps even more significant is related to our society being a democracy. Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of democracy states it is “a) a government by the people: rule of the majority b) a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.”

When elected officials choose to represent their interests and not the majority of citizens they supposedly represent, they need to be held accountable for their actions. I do not always agree with the results of elections. However, in a democracy, the “rule of the majority” is the essence of the society. The constitution protects its citizen’s rights in this society. We as citizens need to exercise our right to vote for candidates that represent the “rule of the majority,” and not their interests.

The topic of the aforementioned article is not as important as a legislature not acknowledging the results of a vote in 1992 because of her or his personal opinion. Legislatures who choose not to represent the “rule of the majority” need to be voted out of office and replaced by individuals that choose to represent the votes of their constituents.

Carolyn Read

Natchez