By Jeff Simpson
“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Ben Franklin
Well that was in 1787 and we know now that what Our Founders truly gave us was a Constitutionally limited democratic republic. See as James Madison pointed out, you could use the words democracy and republic interchangeably so the distinction is not there the way some uninformed "tea partiers" like to pretend it is. However that is for another day.
The focus of this post is another part of this quote:
"If You Can Keep It"!
With the Republicans running this country......I highly doubt it!
Happy Independence Day!
While reading the Declaration of Independence, I was struck by the fact that many of the abuses of power cited by our founding fathers are occurring in present time within the State of Wisconsin:
ReplyDelete“He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.” (Seeking to minimize public input on pending legislation such as the mining bill and changes to Milwaukee County government, by holding hearings at inconvenient times and far from the affected areas; redrawing district boundaries in an attorney’s office rather than the legislative offices in order to avoid open records requests and hide what they were doing from the citizens)
“For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments” (Erosion of local government control)
“For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.” (Message to the minority party: You won’t be allowed to fully debate the budget, so don’t bother trying. Message to citizens: your access to the legislative chambers will be limited.)
“He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.” (Loosening environmental protections throughout our state; allowing industries based outside of our state to plunder our natural resources and pollute our environments, while at the same time limiting citizen’s ability to seek reparation.
“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.” (The current Wisconsin legislature does not represent the people of the state, but rather their own ideologies – and those of the Koch brothers.)
What would our founding fathers think of Wisconsin’s majority party government officials? Would they consider those officials to be “tyrants”?
You had those thoughts too, eh? The last thing our founders would want is an oligarchy controlled by factions outside of government, and especially outside of the elected officials' constituency.
DeleteAnd that sure sounds like Wisconsin today, and the nation in general.
Tories
ReplyDeleteWorse than Tories, The Christian Brotherhood:
ReplyDelete-Intolerance and race baiting are virtuous.
-Religious law replaces secular law.
-Religious schools replace public schools.
-Corporal punishment makes a come-back.
-Women must dress modestly and shut-up.
-Workers must obey their economic masters.
-Implied threats of violence against infidels.
-The chosen few become the filthy crony rich.