July 4th was among my favorite holidays growing up. It wasn’t due to the fireworks, because we never sprang for things such as that, it was the food and other summer type fun that appealed to me. There’s a particular potato salad that I like real well, and deviled eggs and real baked beans were also favorites. My Mom would often fix a brisket – in the oven. Really. It was actually very good and I can nearly taste it as I write this, but it was nothing like you would get from a pit. We don’t get together and make those foods anymore and that's a shame.
What we are celebrating today was our founders throwing off the yoke of tyranny. Or treason and sedition. It was one of those perspective things. One mans hero is another mans villain.
Our Founders risked and endured much to bring this nation to reality. It took thirteen years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence until a new government was finally seated on March 4th, of 1789 under our current Constitution. They formed a Republic the likes that the world had seldom seen, and warned us that it would be difficult to keep.
What is a republic? The most common applicable dictionary definition is: “a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.” That’s pretty much what we have, but in our case we go further and we are controlled by a Constitution that restricts what those representatives may and may not do. The document makes clear that the power of the government comes from the people.
So how would you lose the Republic? Simple. You abdicate the supreme power and allow the government to exercise it. In our case, it’s the people allowing the government to step outside its Constitutional boundaries and exercise powers it does not have.
I don't want to be a downer on what should be an auspicious day, but it’s my opinion that we have lost the Republic and it has happened slowly over time. Don’t think so? Do you notice how the media and some factions of government officials go on and on about “our democracy”? Neither the Declaration nor the Constitution mention the word. In fact our founders were fearful of mob rule, but mob rule is just what they’re selling with this “our democracy” BS. They will pay lip service to the Constitution, but they intend for the majority - a majority that is created, cultivated, educated, and obfuscated from real information to rule. That is not how a Constitutional Republic operates.
Congress has the authority to regulate commerce among the states. It is now regulating anything that was at one time in commerce among the states, or will someday be in commerce among the states. Maybe. The Constitution didn’t authorize that. The First Amendment says Congress shall make NO LAW abridging the right to speak, worship, petition the government or of the press. Do I need to make a list of the laws affecting all of those things? Do you see attempts to regulate “hate speech”? Is there an exception to the NO LAW thing I missed? Who gets to define hate speech? Some fake majority that the Constitution does not recognize?
The Second Amendment is another good example and the words there are; shall not be INFRINGED. An infringement would be any encroachment. I don’t know about y’all but I have conversations fairly regularly about what can and can’t be owned under the law. There are lot’s of encroaching going on out here.
Today we are in a situation where many people have significant concerns about our elections which are the foundation of that Republic, and we aren’t even allowed to look at the ballots that supposedly elected the representatives. We are now in the situation where in the vast majority of jurisdictions in this country, only elected representatives are allowed access to the ballots that elect the representatives. That doesn’t sound like a Republic to me. Remember where the supreme power is in a Republic? It’s with the people. When someone is telling you that you can’t see your own vote, you aren’t the supreme power.
This is being written for Facebook so that’s as far as I’m taking this, but the fact is that I could right a fairly large book on places that various governments are pretty clearly outside the Constitution on any number of issues by using made up excuses and exceptions that are not mentioned anywhere in the documents that we used to empower the government. Yes, I am aware of and reject the counter arguments that would be made to that statement. All of our enumerated rights are under attack and those outlined in the 9th and 10th amendments have been totally eviscerated and made meaningless.
My purpose is not to admit defeat, but to encourage you to help take this Republic back for the sake of our kids and grand kids. Use the power that is YOURS to wield. Use your voice, your phone, your keyboard and loudly tell those that represent you that you will no longer accept the status quo. Be loud and rude about it if necessary. People are standing up at school boards and county seats across the country and are beginning to make a difference. If you don’t, you and your kids are going to be putting that yoke back on. Hell, we already have to a degree and I fear the plow may soon be heavy`. Instead why don’t you all your neighbors and join the fun and raise some hell.
Hope y’all get some good tater salad and brisket. May God bless you and bless the USA.