The claim in a Sept. 11 letter that us South Maui residents should vote for Kaniela Ing merely because he was born and raised on Maui is absurd and archaic.
It is a 19th-century belief that a person is qualified to represent a community primarily because he was born near that region. This is the value system of monarchies and bloodlines. This is not the value system of democracy - a model based on equality and opportunity - which has attracted immigrants from the world over.
Ing himself also implied (The Maui News, Aug. 26) that because he was born on Maui (though he hasn't long lived in South Maui - the actual district he is running to represent), he is more qualified than his opponent who was born in Los Angeles (yet has lived and worked in South Maui for more than 20 years).
In the bloodline system, people are born into their station in life. Hard work, intelligence and talent are not taken into account. If this system - the value system espoused by Ing - is used to evaluate residents, then if you live in South Maui, yet weren't born here, you would come up short.
It appears that Ing does not respect many of us whose vote he is seeking. In a true democracy, the candidate with the most talent, commitment and connection to the community would be elected. An advanced society is based on merit, not birth. Birth certificates don't represent communities, people do.
John Ames
Kihei
