All views are welcome, from the middle, right, left

Having an opinion is healthy.

We all have them.

We would all agree, no doubt, that some are more founded on rational thoughts and are better informed than others.

After all, it depends on your point of view. One person's truth is often another's fiction.

We believe everyone has a right to their opinion and that they should have the ability to exercise that right.

We, as newspapers, provide a forum for that discussion and sharing of viewpoints.

That's why we have space for our citizens and our elected lawmakers to contribute their thoughts on the issues of the day.

We don't always agree with what appears in these submissions, from the letters, to the columns.

Yet our goal is to stimulate thought and discussion and give each of us the opportunity to state our views and the chance to persuade others.

We believe it is important to allow and encourage the exchange of ideas. For only through such a sound exchange, presented in a calm manner, can we further the intellectual ability of society to function.

A diversity of opinion is what our country was founded on. Our forefathers came to America because they had a different opinion on matters of governance and religious freedom.

Those founders fought and died for those freedoms, including freedom of speech.

Over the years, great moments in our history have come from movements to stimulate thought and change society.

And it all starts with a single idea.

The more that idea is aired and gets exposed to others, the more it is likely to become modified, changed, or reversed.

And that brings us back to why newspapers provide this service.

These are places for anyone to present their views.

Short of staging a personal attack, defaming someone's character, or just making accusations or being mean spirited, anyone can write us about issues that need examining.

Some opinions prompt quick disagreement, such as politics or social issues. Others usually elicit affirmative responses, such as addressing poverty or the environment.

You'll find local columnists that include our elected officials at the state level and occasionally at the federal level. It doesn't matter to us what political party they represent, only that they represent us. We believe it's important to provide a forum for them to share their views. After all, they represent us. The majority of the citizens in their respective districts elected them. It's only when we know what they believe and espouse that we can effectively determine if we want them to continue to represent us.

Beyond those columnists, we have a number of local citizens who write on a variety of topics, from health to religion.

Members of our staff occasionally write columns as well, on a variety of topics, sometimes on politics but more often on community happenings and local sports.

We continue to offer space to local government, school, business and civic officials and are always glad to include their comments.

Unfortunately, there are those who want only their views or those they agree with, presented.

We don't follow that premise. We offer space for a diversity of views.

By offering our readers, our writers, and a variety of columnists the opportunity to share their opinions, we encourage others to calmly agree or dissent.

Exchanging those viewpoints on our printed pages is much healthier than resorting to physical means to settle our differences.

That's just another reason why we encourage people to write us.

Our readers have told us they agreed with the various opinions the newspaper has presented, and at times, they've told us these opinions are way off base.

Some have told us they can't believe we have agreed with everything that has been printed in these columns, including the columns written by our own writers.

We as a newspaper often don't.

We don't provide space to proclaim the opinions of one person, or for any other single voice.

We print them to provide a diversity of opinion -- whether it is Republican, Democrat or Independent in ideology, conservative, liberal, or moderate.

Like you, each of us may agree or disagree, depending on the subject.

But what we can all agree on, hopefully, is that everybody has a right to be heard.

So the next time you feel strongly about something, share it with us.