Our country is divided politically — or so we hear — right from left, liberal from conservative, progressive from libertarian. Nothing new.
Yet, don’t we all agree on the main points? Certain truths remain self-evident:
- Government must have the consent of the governed.
- ‘We, the People’ are the boss.
- Our votes should count.
- Our constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness count even more.
At Townhall last Sunday, I wrote about a government (ours) that lacks the approval of the people. Even cynical moi is amazed that, in response to their sizzling disapproval ratings, our politicians seem intent on attacking our most fundamental democratic rights to actively disapprove. Freedom of Speech. Assembly. Petition.
On the first day of this month, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill he called a “dramatic” assault on the initiative rights of Californians. On the last day, another bill rests on the governor’s desk. It would force petition circulators to wear a sign on their chests, reading, “Paid Signature Gatherer,” if they receive any compensation at all for their work.
This “reform” is the zenith of wisdom among the Golden State’s great solons.
Our country’s problems with representative government cannot be solved by legislating away the rights of citizens to speak out and participate politically. And by “representative government” we mean not only that the job of a legislator is to represent us, but also that we reserve the right to represent ourselves.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
3 replies on “We Can All Get Along”
regarding your article of Aug.31st:
You are so completely wrong! Well-intended, but wrong. Your own article is self-defeating. The screaming far-Left Liberals do NOT want consent by the governed, control by the People, votes to count (unless they get to control who votes and who counts the votes), and unless convenient {to their perspective} the Constitution doesn’t matter, either.
How about our representatives and senators wear similar tags: paid mouthpieces?
Our country is divided politically. We have the common points mentioned above, which are points that are desired by both the liberals and the conservatives.
And we have the government, which apparantly does not give creedance to ANY of those concepts, and is actively working to undermine them.
The current government has developed into something that is actually the enemy of both the liberals AND the conservatives, but the liberals have mostly not realized it yet.