To many of us, our local, state, and federal government election campaigns represent an unwanted distraction from daily life; being engulfed by annoying commercials; endless hassle for contributions; mixed emotions about the candidates; and often doubts and confusion regarding who we should vote for (or against). Each campaign also involving considerable time, effort, and money spent trying to influence our votes. The overall extent being proportional to the power and influence of the political position being sought. In presidential election campaigns the money alone entails ever-growing millions upon millions of dollars—from sources ever more difficult to identify—especially for the average voter.
Through it all, some of us do our best to cast informed and otherwise responsible votes; sadly, a larger number do otherwise. More tragically, untold millions never bother to participate at all in this hard-fought-for special right and citizen responsibility. Elections and voting—expressions of citizen-sovereignty and right of representation denied to countless millions of others worldwide. As millions of Americans continue a most dangerous assumption—that the liberties, freedoms, and opportunities we enjoy are forever-secured givens. Losing touch that such blessings originate from and rely upon a truly special form of government established long ago—our very special and unique "constitutional republic".
Being very aware of the failures of prior democracies such as ancient Athens and Rome, our country’s founding fathers feared creating a government too similar to a pure democracy—which can result in mob-rule and tyranny-of-the-majority; where fifty-one percent could take away the rights of the other forty-nine. Through experience, insight, and great wisdom, they instead established a first and to date one-of-its-kind constitutional republic—where sovereignty deliberately rests with we the people. Where we can act lawfully on our own and through elected representatives to deal with issues; where our government’s power comes from and is limited by its citizens. Thus establishing our nation of unequaled liberty, freedom, and opportunity—governed by its citizens through three separate but equal branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial.
Nevertheless, years of ignorance, apathy, complacency, denial, greed, and fear—on the part of too many eligible voters and elected representatives—have taken our country down a most dangerous path. One possibly best symbolized by the following “life-cycle of a democracy” scenario (an assertion of questionable origin, for years quoted, referenced, and accessible in many forms through an array of Internet sources and other media):
The Life Cycle of a Democracy
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It will continue until the voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that point on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. Eventually every democracy will collapse, due to loose fiscal policy, and be followed by a dictatorship. From the beginning, the greatest civilizations of the world have only lasted about 200 years, and have always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back to bondage.”
Regardless of above scenario’s origin, little open-minded consideration is required to note some very unsettling similarities, between it and the dangerous path our country is on. And any realistic comparison would find us very disturbingly somewhere past the mid-point between Sequence 6 and 7. That is, a nation heavily consumed with apathy and dangerously deep into the even more self-destructive phase of dependence. Leaving bondage the next step in this scenario—towards loss of the liberty/freedom we now enjoy; thereafter facing a path of serious threat to our survival!
The remainder of this post includes and makes reference to information that should be an aid to getting a constructive grasp of how apathy and dependence apply to our country’s current status and direction. Some facts-of-life our main-stream media and political leaders don’t spend much, if any, time and effort talking about. Such as, the following partial-snapshot taken from information presented in more detail in the herein separate post titled “The Bottomless Pit of Our Federal Government".
According to September 2015 U.S. Census data, we were at that time frame a nation of about 321.7 million. However, only 122.1 million (37.9%) were full-time workers; 26.9 million (8.3%) part-time workers; 8.07 million (2.5%) “officially” unemployed; 16.1 million (5%) “actually” unemployed; 94.0 million (29.2%) not in labor force; and only 118.9 million (37%) income taxpayers. Furthermore, 57.0 million (17.7%) were Medicare enrollees; 76.4 million (23.7%) Medicaid recipients; 40.7 million (12.6%) without health insurance; and 10.8 million (3.3%) disabled; 47.6 million (14.8%) were living in poverty; 45.3 million (14.0%) were Food Stamp recipients; 1.7 million (0.05%) homeless; 122 thousand unaccompanied-minors; 1 in 6 living on incomes at risk for hunger; 14 million American children were relying on food banks; food insecurity existed in every county in the U.S.; and about 157 million (49%) of us were receiving some type of “benefits” from the public treasury.
As of September 2017 we have grown to a nation of over 325.8 million, and the shameful and destructive statistics noted above have little changed (as shown by updates included in above referenced post titled "The Bottomless Pit of Our Federal Government").
And, for a little "icing on the cake" — as of September 2017 “we the people” are strapped with a rapidly growing national debt of over $20 trillion—that’s about $62 thousand per citizen; or $167 thousand per taxpayer! And, for U.S. Unfunded Liabilities totaling over $107 trillion—that’s over $328 thousand for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. - - - or, more than $887 thousand per income taxpayer!
Again, the above information being but a snapshot of our growing dependency status—the result of years of agendas taking us down the path of becoming reliant upon the government for our every want and need. A liberty and survival threatening path accommodated by government representatives and bureaucrats more focused on keeping their jobs, staying in power, and promoting their personal interests and ideologies, than addressing the best interests of our country. And driven by our ignorance, apathy, complacency, denial, greed, and fear.
We must not continue to tolerate an ever-growing government; vote ourselves generous benefits from our public treasury; and be a nation of more and more takers and less and less contributors! We must timely wake-up to reality!
A constitutional republic that protects its citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is realistic and sustainable. One that promotes and accommodates irresponsible and ever-growing dependency-upon and unearned entitlement-to the public treasury, is not!
Until replaced by dictatorship, tyranny, and bondage—the sovereignty (supreme power and authority) and lifespan of our constitutional-republic form of government rests with we the people. As does, our liberty and ultimate survival—and that of future generations of Americans.
“We” must step up, speak up, and do the right thing!
—William James Moore
= = =
“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” —Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755), Political Philosopher.
The strength of the Constitution lies
entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every
single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the
constitutional rights secure.” —Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Theoretical Physicist.
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