By Camille McClanahan
Corsicana Daily Sun
— I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — do not complain about anything political if you did not spend the few minutes it took to go vote in this past week’s election. Since early voting has been made so accessible these last few years, that is the way I usually choose to vote. That way, I won’t come up with some lame excuse at the last moment to not vote on election day.
Sure, there are valid excuses for sudden illnesses or mental incompetency (as of yet I do not fall into that category) that might prevent some from voting, but as for the rest of registered voters, I am appalled by the lack of turnout. Less than 25 percent of registered voters in Navarro County cast a ballot. Absolutely pitiful. There were contested races on both the Republican and Democratic primaries, so why didn’t you vote?
Have you given any thought lately to what many people have gone through in the past to get the right to vote?
Women, have you forgotten your history studies of the women’s suffrage movement? American women only earned the right to vote in 1920 — 144 years after our country declared independence.
For black Americans, Congress passed the 15th amendment in 1869 which was ratified in 1870 giving citizens the right to vote not to be denied by race, color or previous condition of servitude. However, it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s when you really started to see things happen.
We should never take for granted our right to vote, no matter what your gender or race. If you think this “right” can’t be taken away, you are only fooling yourself.
What are we expecting from our government in the near future? More bailouts, handouts and mailouts? We’ve already seen what’s happened in the last year or two, haven’t we? Did the stimulus check you received go farther than mine? I doubt it. Isn’t it about time for some more government cheese?
Mind you, my parents were never on welfare or food stamps, but somehow they received the one-time only government cheese back in the 1980s. I’m not sure why they qualified for the freebie unless it was because of their age. I can remember that I had a slice or two of the aforementioned product. Was it good? I think that answer would be in the affirmative. At that time, I questioned why you couldn’t buy something that good in stores. Came to find out that this was the type of cheese public schools had been using for years.
After reading this week’s Corsicana Independent School District’s menu, I can’t help but wonder if CISD got some runs on the cheese again (no pun intended). I’ve been at the Daily Sun for more than 12 years and I can’t ever recall seeing so much cheese for one school in one week’s worth of menus. Interesting, don’t you think? Makes you want to eat something cheezy, doesn’t it? Well, here you go ... enjoy!
Tortilla Casserole
12 corn tortillas
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1 7-ounce can green chilies
1 8-ounce package shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut tortillas into half-inch strips. Grease a large casserole dish. Mix soups with milk. Pour a thin layer of soup mixture on bottom of casserole dish. Put half of the tortillas over this, followed by soup mixture, chilies and cheese. Make another layer of tortillas, soup mixture, chilies and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.
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Camille McClanahan may be contacted via e-mail at camille@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” on this column? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com
