Have We Not Learned Anything?

As another call goes out to tea parties across the state to counter an on-going protest by the public unions over the proposed Senate Bill 5, I must ask, “Have we not learned anything?” 

We are seeing a full-blown assault on our representative republic to transform it into a democracy.  Thomas Jefferson said, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”  Sad thing is, those who should know better, those of us who have now studied our founding, have been led into contributing to this degradation. By calling for counter-protests, regardless if you call it a “rally in support of…”, feeds the division that is desired by the revolutionaries.  Big mobs beget bigger mobs.  That can’t end well.

A representative republic, the most stable system in a free society, means that we should elect those who best represent not our wants, but our ability to pursue our rights to Life, Liberty and Happiness in a manner we see fit (that doesn’t interfere with others’ equally guaranteed rights).  I don’t care which party is in charge, that is their duty. The way our system works is to let your representative know where you stand – in a civil manner as often as possible – and let them do their jobs. If they don’t, you make your case against them and vote otherwise in the next election. Barring a change of government, that is your only option. Both parties have failed miserably, yet the revolutionaries have convinced both sides that the other is the enemy.  How can we survive as a unified nation in that type of environment? 

I beg my tea party friends, please stop and think about where this leads.  Look at your kids’ teachers, firefighters, police officers and tell me why we should be protesting against them?  The official statement is that it’s to rein in out-of-control spending.  But how is the media portraying it? Like they always do.  Tea Parties bad, firefighters, teachers and police good. Why give them the story? Yes, our budget is a mess, and yes, there is some extravagance and inequality between public sector and private sector employment.  Why is this such a line in the sand when the actual problem in the states is most often unfunded federal mandates and regulations?   Why are we not “holding our representatives’ feet to the fire” (the mantra of those beholden to the two party system) on the right of states to nullify unconstitutional federal laws and mandates? That alone would fix much of our fiscal problem.  That’s how you unite average citizens.  The fringes, right and left, are the minority. 

The only effort I’ve seen to address the constitutional issue, that of the tenth amendment rights of sovereign states vs. the melding of states into a “national” government run from Washington, DC., is the Ohio Sovereignty Amendment.  The amendment has been effectively embargoed by the state-wide liberty group hierarchy.  The same group calling for the counter protests.  The argument I’ve been given is mostly that it’s too big and the learning curve is too long.  In other words, we’re too stupid to understand it, so no sense in putting it out there.  I’m not questioning their commitment to liberty, but I am questioning why their efforts are feeding the fire set by the revolutionaries who want this “democracy” and ignoring a possible real solution.  

SB5 is low-hanging fruit. If this is a show of solidarity to support those who are for S B 5 in the face of the unions, I get it. I went to the “big one” on 9/12.  That was different. It was the first time EVER that regular people from all over the country decided to make themselves known in DC.  But in the here and now, rallies and counter-rallies are not going to help.  In fact, as we’re seeing, the average union worker, who until now has been going about his/her own business will begin to see the tea parties as against them. It is a trap, and some have walked right into it. 

If you want to see what a real solution may look like, go to www.pccoh.com. That is the website of the Peoples Constitution Coalition of Ohio, the authors and promoters of the amendment. I’ve spent many hours with these guys. They understand that the fix is not any easy one, nor is it a quick one.  But they, like me and many friends, understand that it likely may be the only peaceful one.

(Well, there just went the rest of my tea party friendships.)