I've dusted myself off and have made a few decisions.
First among them: I'm doubling down. I will not succumb to tyranny. I will fight for America and for liberty.
As Daniel Horowitz points out this morning, we are constitutional republic, not a democracy. Our forefathers had the good sense to leave us with a Constitution to divide powers and to prevent tyranny.
A pure unbridled democracy is a political system in which the majority enjoys absolute power by means of democratic elections. In an unvarnished democracy, unrestrained by a constitution, the majority can vote to impose tyranny on themselves and the minority opposition. They can vote to elect those who will infringe upon our inalienable God-given rights. Thomas Jefferson referred to this as elected despotism in Notes on the State of Virginia (also cited in Federalist 48 by Madison):
An ELECTIVE DESPOTISM was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.Thus, a constitution that limited and divided the power of government was necessary to preclude elected officials from imposing tyranny on the people. This is why they adopted a constitution with limited enumerated power, divided and checked across several branches and levels.
This is our first arm of defense against the downward spiral that faces us. We still have separation of powers.
Kate Obenshain posted this Thomas Jefferson quote this morning and I think it's appropriate:
To preserve the independence of the people, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. Considering the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies, and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burden which the citizen can bear, may it never be seen here that ... government shall itself consume the residue of what it was instituted to guard. To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "the guaranty to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it."
—Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Samuel Kercheval (12 July 1816).
I will fight every effort of this government to take the product of my work and give it to those who don't want to work. I will help those who can not work, but I will not support those who can and don't. Those people are choosing servitude to the government; I am not.
So, I'm doubling down on America. I didn't put on one flag pin this morning - I put on THREE! I will not give up. I have deleted the gloaters from my Facebook wall, not because I'm bitter in defeat (although I am) but because I do not want to be distracted by people with their heads in the sand. I will continue to talk and post about Benghazi, the lapse of national security, the generational debt, and the people who just want "free stuff" at my expense. It's not "political propaganda," friend; it's the truth. You will see it soon enough.
When these people do see that they have driven America over the cliff, they will need guidance to help rebuild the country for future generations. We need to be there to do it because they will not know how to begin.
Wolverines!
11 comments:
WOLVERINES!
Separation of powers until that dumbass appoints new judges to the supreme court.
Thanks for the encouraging words. I needed them.
Your blog is a breath of fresh air after some of the things that I hear from the media. You are very knowledgeable about national politics and where to go to look for answers to our questions. Keep up the good work!!!
You rock, girl - words to which Ronald Reagan would have given you a double thumbs up.
Four more years of increased hell... gotta increase the Wheaties to again wage battle against the statists.
Glad to see you back in the good fight, Pat. : ) I was worried after your last post, and I'd hate to lose you and your blog.
We don't give up when Obama just squeaks by. He'll double down. So we must as well.
It's not over. We could've ended last night, but it didn't happen. Now the fight's really going to begin.
Totally linked,!
Geez, WI, NH, MA, MI, CA...those boys couldn't carry a single HOME STATE! (oh, except maybe Utah)
I admire what you said and echo your sentiments.
I won’t lie. I am horribly discouraged by the election results and disgusted with my countrymen who seemingly have decided socialism is A-OK with them. A lower voter turnout in such an election than the previous one? I say this because it seems both Obama and Romney got fewer votes than McCain did in 2008, both with less than 60 million. That tells me a lot of eligible voters didn’t participate, maybe a quarter or a third.
I’ll make a quick case to try and explain where my thinking is going in my attempt to regain some mental equilibrium: In a way, we are back to pre-Revolutionary days. The American Revolution was not a case of all Americans united against the big, bad Brits; one-third were Rebels, one-third were Loyalists, and one-third simply did not care. The odds now are looking much longer than they were at the beginning of this week. But our task is to change things for the better. We might never make it better and even if we do we will take some serious loss and pain in the meantime. I don’t know what else to do – surrender is not an option.
Yes, we are a constitutional republic rather than a democracy. However, Obama now has another opportunity to appoint judges to federal courts (e.g., the Supreme Court) who do not share this perspective - judges who abide by a leftist philosophy that activist government should overrule clear constitutional constraints. With the Democrats increasing their majority in the Senate, I fear the constitutional safeguards of our liberties will be further eroded.
I knew you weren't going to stay down for long. GOOD. We need ever last one of us who is willing to fight, and not a single one who ain't!
Papa MAS - The one problem with your analogy is that the one third you would consider rebels now will not actually -fight- to overturn the tyranny.
Mark in Portland
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