Editor’s Note: This was originally published on April 25, 2018 and is being re-run today because early voting here in North Carolina begins Thursday. PLEASE get out and vote!
This past Saturday, I fulfilled what I feel is one of my responsibilities as a US Citizen and a Registered Republican residing in the NC-10 Congressional District. I was a Delegate to the North Carolina 10thCongressional District GOP Convention. Every Congressional District in the Country has a total population of ~700,000 Citizens. In my Congressional District there are more than 180,000 Registered Republicans. So, how many Delegates would you think attended this Annual Convention leading up to this critical Mid-term Election cycle? Can you say 81 Delegates? And many in attendance seemed to think that this was a good turnout? Now, I understand that it was a nice Spring Saturday and there was yard work to be done and golf to be played and kid’s events to attend and…… whatever. But 81 Delegates? REALLY??
I guess it’s time for me to just piss everybody off. But I am convinced that We The People are the problem with this Country today. Not the Parties. Not the politicians. Not the government. From sometime in my youth, I remember a particular “Pogo” comic strip, which featured an iconic quote “We have met the enemy and he is US.” That has stuck with me through my whole life and now I truly realize the brilliance of Walt Kelly, the mind behind Pogo. Our Founders were SO brilliant and we have betrayed them. They provided US with the greatest design of government in the HISTORY OF MAN and We The People have used it against ourselves. And we seem to continue to “double down” on it every chance we get.
What of the basic conceptual design of our government of “Of the People, By the People and For the People” do we no longer understand? And this applies to both the government and the political parties. In both of these hierarchal organizations, the power goes to those who show up. Our “Republican form of government”, as guaranteed by Article IV, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, by design, starts with the individual Citizen, moves to our families, then to our neighborhoods, then to our townships, then to our counties, then to the State and last but not least, to the national government. And the political parties follow a similar path, starts with the individual Citizen, then to the precinct, then to the county, then to the Congressional District, then to the State and last but not least, to the national party. It’s really not that hard to understand, if you care to.
So, why would I say, “We The People are the problem?” Because I believe it is just where we are today as a Nation and a Society. I’m willing to bet that more of my fellow Citizens can name several of the people who ran for President in 2016 than can name one of their City Councilmen or County Commissioners. Are you starting to get the picture? Washington AP Bureau Chief Byron Price first used the phrase “All politics is local” in 1932. Then former US Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill first used the term in 1935, when he entered politics. And this has never been truer than it is today.
I believe the Liberal-Progressives and their allies in the “education” industry have done this by design. But it has been allowed to happen by their willing accomplices, We The People, not paying attention to what was happening. So, if you want to make a difference in the future of our Country, pay attention and get involved in what is happening in your own town and county and State. Pay attention to what’s happening in the local schools and what you children and grandchildren are being taught. Go to events where your local, county and State elected officials appear and make them aware you are paying attention.
As we go in to this fall and these critical elections, I can only hope that my fellow US Citizens will wake up and participate. These elections will truly affect our lives more directly than ANY Presidential or statewide elections, and activists, because of the low turnout, can more easily change the outcome. It’s how the Liberal-Progressives have been destroying our Republic for decades. Think nationally but act locally. Be a grassroots activist. And remember that proper Grassroots political organizing is how and when the good work you do in your own neighborhood reaches all the way to Washington DC, to keep the bad stuff they do in Washington DC from coming to your neighborhood.
God Bless America! And America, Bless God, Again!!
