It should be a privilege to represent WE THE PEOPLE. No matter where in government, federal, state or local, government of any kind provides the opportunity for any citizen to partake in the best of America, to facilitate THE AMERICAN DREAM.
The Founding Fathers envisioned public service as short term. A man or a woman would come to office, serve our country, limited in time and return home. With the exception of the Supreme Court, public service in government office was never intended for the long term. It was certainly never intended as a career.
But power, money, fame and ego turn what could have been ordinary citizens into ELITES. Government, with all of its attributes, becomes intoxicating and for so many, so difficult to surrender the office and return home. Like Senators Schumer and McConnell. Or Congressperson and Speaker Pelosi and others. They gradually think of themselves as elites, better than ordinary citizens. Wiser, and more intelligent. Knowing in a special and omniscient way what is right for our country and for us. The elitism of power politics breeds arrogance and pride. There is the sense of LOOK–DOWN on the citizenry, the voters the ordinaries. Or as Hillary Clinton would term the average American, THE DEPLORABLES. In short, we the people were beneath her, hardly worthy of her time and certainly in no position to challenge her wisdom or judgement.
The ELITES protect each other, their kind. They circle the wagons, defending. They attack together, unified for the most part in almost every way. They can identify the enemy, the targets, the goals and objectives they have most clearly, and work for that, or fight for that in Washington parlance with all their might. Elitism requires the politicians to be right, think of themselves as right and everybody else and other points of view as wrong. Consequently, there is no dialogue with an elite politician, only demand. You agree with me or you become the enemy. Elites never fairly compromise nor are they willing to seriously entertain any other point of view. In so many ways, elites are the enemy of democracy.
They thrive, these elites do, in this so–called era of POST–TRUTH. They say what they want when they want. They deny and they LIE. They become masters at the TRUTH DU JOUR. There really is no such thing as a fact but anything is interpreted and communicated in the best light to accomplish the objectives of these elites. We the people become accustomed to the WASHINGTON LIE and we take it for granted that what will happen today will in so many ways contradict what happened yesterday. In so many cases, the truth is not in them.
ANGER is a characteristic of the politician. Temperaments become explosive. Angry attack is commonplace. This political anger seems part of the Washington power syndrome. A politician must appear strong, even threatening. The power politician must appear bold, aggressive, willing to do whatever is required to accomplish his or her objectives. When these angry, aggressive politicians are protected by the media, and academia, and Hollywood, and unions, and by some of the worlds wealthiest corporations, they think of themselves as invincible, ready to do anything at any time even to the point of bending or breaking the law. These elites can regard themselves as above the law and where necessary, indifferent to the Constitution.
On they go seeking and usurping more and more CONTROL. That is especially so with regard to speech, free speech. Aggressive politicians can often employ any tactics in order to shut down the speech of the opposition. To qualify it, criticize it, ridicule it, even to the point of intimidating and threatening.
And the same with religion. Politicians for the most part want religion and especially Christianity out of the marketplace. They want religion PRIVATIZED, confined to the four walls of a church. Religious speech and testimony is ridiculed and attacked. The Creator with his divine laws which motivated the Declaration of Independence and our very Constitution itself no longer exists. We are a country becoming godless and the attack on Judeo – Christian morality and ethics is everywhere. The moral restraints of Christianity are anathema to the elitist, secular politician. Freedom of assembly, peaceful protest is resisted wherever possible.
And so these politicians, drunken with power begin gradually to think of themselves above the law. The law in so many ways applies to others, ordinary citizens, but not to them. They can get away with speech and conduct which would result in a serious punishment of the ordinary citizen. These politicians can broker power. They can do favors. They can see to the election of others who will do their bidding. They can spend political monies freely and often for their personal benefit. They have little accountability especially the more they deny and lie. The republic of which we were once so proud has become so corrupt in so many ways. Small wonder we the people are so frustrated, even angry. We know so little will happen for our benefit in Washington. We watch American democracy attacked from every side. We see the rise of Socialism and even the potentiality, God forbid, of something as draconian as Marxism. We sense our freedoms bargained away by those who have lost touch with us. They seem to care little about the Constitution, even if they understand it. They resist a Supreme Court which may apply strict constructionism to the Constitution, preferring that it be organic, changeable, adaptable to the times rather than permanently timely. Politicians would wish the Constitution to be a mere guide and not the highest, inviolable law of the land. Small wonder there is uncertainty, angst and deep concern about AMERICAN POWER POLITICS. It is a system with cracks in the walls and in some cases even crumbling. The future, if there is one, will be totally different in America for our younger generations, totally different and not for the better.
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin told American citizens at the time of the Constitution that he and his peers gave us the finest document ever written by mankind, and within that document, THE CONSTITUTION was a REPUBLIC form of government. It was one fair and just, replete with checks and balances, maximizing FREEDOM wherever possible and especially in the amendments to the Constitution. This government was as Franklin so well stated a republic but only:
IF WE COULD KEEP IT.
We are not keeping this republic. In fact we are losing precious pieces of our republic, our Constitution, our freedoms, our way of life daily. We the people seem indifferent to this erosion of our freedoms. We can talk, and debate, and even become angry. But we seem to be able to do little to reverse the tide. And sooner or later, the America we know and love will change and change forever. We must remember the words of President Ronald Reagan, WE MUST, when he reminded all of us that:
FREEDOMS ONCE LOST ARE LOST FOREVER!
The essential freedom starts with governance. We must reform Washington DC, we must. We must find a way to cleanse and clarify government and our political processes, federal state and local. We the people must take back our country, run it, make our decisions and do what is right for us in the most democratic way possible. Otherwise, there will be no America for the younger generations and the end of the America lived in and loved by the older ones. It is indeed the 11th hour. Reformation, renewal and revival must come now, NOW! We must have a citizenry awakened, concerned, involved, enlightened and educated. We must give to our political arenas as much time as we do to our entertainment and leisure. We the people must hold these politicians accountable and if not, vote them out. Only then can America survive.
May God burden your hearts with the duties and responsibilities of citizenship so that you can appreciate what you have, what America is in every way. Only as we do our part can we ask and expect God to bless:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.