Although the national media is consumed with news of further economic losses, the President and Congress shredding of public confidence and the multitude of other distractions, this past weekend Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, in a “non-political” event at the Washington Mall, still managed to command attention and simultaneously send (even) Rev. Al Sharpton into apoplectic shock! Not an easy task.
What must there be in a “message” so alluring that it is able to capture the interest of so many people, regardless of what side of the fence they stand? I believe that the events of this past weekend can be compressed in to two distinct observations at the core of each, possessing a rather compelling relationship with the other. They are as follows:
- Though the passage of time has been accompanied by further degradation of the point herein, I will suggest that for most Americans that the very same issues of concerns which Mr. Obama leveraged on his march to election victory, still remain unresolved today – over-reaching and abusive government, war and the economy.
- The “I Have A Dream” speech of Dr. King speaks as much to the conflict that all Americans have with government as it did to the specific social issues confronting Black-Americans. However, as with any issue that has political leverage, Dr. King’s message has not just been co-opted by divisive interests that feed on dis-integration, it is emblematic of the practice of biased selective-entitlement where government adopts and adapts critical economic and social issues for political advantage.
If we consider the appeal of “personalities” such as Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin, I am of the opinion that it is not so much that they have a provocative and/or appealing message which they alone offer but more so that they simply reflect, or perhaps better said, capture the sentiment of a public looking for a voice which resonates and is representative of their own. Is this not also the case with Mr. Obama? Think of the millions who voted for him simply on the appeal of the illusory elixir of “change”. We might also measure the truth of this observation of we now consider the number of voters who have abandoned him while only two years in to what will likely be a “one term” presidency.
I’ve studied Dr. King’s speech at great length and I recommend that every American do the same. The key points of his speech are found in his reference to the Declaration of Independence, “…that all men are created equal…” and that he was there on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on behalf of all Americans to “collect on the check” issued by the promise implicit in the “American Dream.” I must ask you, is this not the same sentiment of every American, regardless of skin color? To be sure, this is not to lessen the severity of the disadvantages suffered and endured by Black-Americans; each directly related to the Government not honoring the contract between the “consenting governed” and their government. It would appear, at least to me, that not much has changed since 1963.
Even more to the point; since the passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution (1870), there existed no prohibitions or ambiguities as to the sovereign rights of all Americans whose perfection simply requires the government to do what it seems only willing to do when there is political advantage to be secured. Instead of enforcing the Law by Court Order, it creates a perpetual and burdensome bureaucracy and uses the legislative process and the law only to enforce yet another injustice. Sound familiar? It should!
With consideration to only the present issues of the economy and the contract with the “consenting governed,” we witness first hand how government and biased-interests co-opt issues by re-interpreting the role of government from the protector of sovereign rights to one that distributes selective-entitlements for political advantage. As a nation of once sovereign individuals, we have sat idly by and in so doing, endorsed by our silence the complete re-organization of representative government where the role of government is no longer as servant of the people but one where the people are now servants of the government. Where we no longer enforce the will of the consenting governed upon the government, but where the minority enforces its will upon the un-represented majority. Or, as it appears in the “Blind Vision” series,
“Who represents the majority of will when the minority wills the outcome?”
Yes indeed, the issues at hand will never resolve on the supremacy of democrat or republican partisanship as the matter at hand is far more critical and frankly one which the politician is incapable of grasping. It is a deeply philosophical conflict rooted in the dysfunction of a nation that has lost sight of the fundamental core of what lies at the heart of representative government – the Sovereignty of Unalienable Rights and the Individual(s) with whom they reside.
My concern is not over the likes of Mr. Beck or Ms. Palin in fact, I admire their courage particular understanding the hostile environment into which they venture. No, my concern is with those who would have them silenced. In a country which claims to be “free” and a “nation of laws”, I find it somewhat apocryphal that there is little interest in perfecting these assertions. Still!
Restoring Honor, Simply Speaking…will require more than words and I suspect it is this truth that has those in opposition, apoplectic.
Remember, always,
“Man must be Free for Independence to be at Liberty to be Expressed!”
Simply speaking, there are no substitutes for what constitutes an “Ideal.”
Curtis C. Greco, Founder
