On Tuesday evening, my family gathered for several hours and watched as election results came in, both in the national and local elections. Thousands of other Americans were doing the same thing, hoping for governmental power to be entrusted to individuals who they could trust to protect their freedom and liberty. Some were pleased with the outcomes, some were concerned, and probably most people experienced a combination of satisfaction and disappointment.
The outcome of elections does have a significant impact on our lives. Elections help to shape our future for good or bad. Over the past year, thousands and thousands of hours have been invested in campaigning for individuals and propositions that would be on the ballot. Now that the voting is complete, what is the role of the citizen? Do we simply wait for the next election to roll around?
Hopefully not! Regardless of who is in office, our national and state constitutions provide rules that elected officials must follow. If we know what the rules are, we can be active in watching over our elected officials and holding up a red flag when they begin to step out of bounds or ignore the rules. It seems like a lot of work, though. Why should we invest the time and effort?
Today, I would like to share a few stories with you to remind us all of why the effort to protect liberty is worth our time and attention, not just when elections happen, but every day of the year. We will begin by traveling back in time to England in the sixteenth century.
The day was April 4, 1519. The place is Coventry, England. Six fathers and one mother were forced along a path to Little Park, where stakes were set in the ground amidst piles of sticks and bundles of straw. These seven parents, including a widow and 3 shoemakers, were burned at the stake, convicted by the forced testimony of their own children. What was the nature of their children’s testimony? It was a few simple, memorized words. The children were forced to recite the Lord’s Prayer in English, which they had been taught by their parents. The language of the common people was English, but having or teaching any part of the Bible in the people’s mother tongue was a crime considered worthy of death. The Bible reads, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” but these people were forbidden from personally accessing the truths taught in scripture. Daring to defy that law resulted in the death of seven parents.
Next, we visit China during the Cultural Revolution. A young girl, Ji-li Jiang was a hard working student, eager to please. She eagerly participated as the leaders in her country told her that they were bringing about a new age, an age in which everything would be better. Over time, however, she saw things that disturbed her. She saw older men and women, whom she had always been taught to honor and respect, being mocked and beaten in the streets. She saw people’s homes being searched and their property being stolen. One day, she was shocked to realize that her parents were concerned that her home is on the list to be ransacked. And, indeed, her property was destroyed and stolen as she cowered in fear. Over time, Ji-li faced many more hardships, but in the end, she learned a valuable lesson. She learned that her family was a priceless treasure and that she could decide for herself what was true.
Both of these stories are sad, but both remind us to not take the precious gifts of liberty and freedom for granted. They remind us that it is much easier to protect liberty than it is to reclaim it once it is lost. May we be vigilant in protecting the liberty that has been given to us as a gift from God, both by keeping a careful eye on our elected officials and by paying close attention to the foundations of liberty - religion and morality.
8 comments
Joel
Spot on Monte! Term limits become an excuse for the people to avoid being (actively participating) citizens of our constitutional republic and only vet, and accept moral and virtuous leaders.
Monte
LW, yes but one of the things the COS is advocating for is term limits. Our Founders gave us term limits, it is called an election every 2 years. We, as an electorate, just fail to properly use this wonderful tool they gave us.
If you want to fix a problem, you first must identify the “root cause” of the problem. Otherwise you will end up applying a FEEL GOOD solution that you FEEL will solve the problem. More than likely you will not fix the problem and maybe even create unintended consequences that are worse than the original problem. We don’t have to look back but a century ago to see a very painful reminder of this, it was called the 17th Amendment.
I suggest that the root cause of our problem that we are trying to address is not that we don’t have term limits. The root cause of our problem is an uneducated/uninformed electorate. Perhaps we should all be working hard at trying to fix that issue. If we do, I think the terminology of term limits will just be a distant memory.
LW Hutson
Our Constitution is the highest law of our country, and every elected official swears to uphold it and protect it from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Yet, many, if not most, of these very same “public servants” know very little of what this constitution says and operate without paying any attention to it. The Convention of States Action Project is a grassroots organization dedicated to educating our citizenry, promoting civic responsibility, and ultimately, using Article V of our Constitution to get our country back on the right track through the amendment process delineated in the second clause of that Article. Go to ConventionofStates.com and sign up to support this effort and become a Patriot activist. Educate our people and insist on transparency and accountability in our government.
Monte
William, agree with you on the need for more education on the Constitution. Conservatives should consider getting actively involved. Possible ideas include facilitating classes on our Founding Principles and the Constitution in Retirement Communities (independent living) utilizing the Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land videos and book. On the other side of the age spectrum, working with private schools you might be able to get the 5000 Year Leap used as a textbook in their 7th or 8th grade government curriculum. What better foundation for our youth than learning and UNDERSTANDING the Founding Principles that our country was built on.
Chuck
I agree that the Preamble outlines the reason and goals of the Constitution and the powers given to the federal government “by the people” along with the limited number of duties of Congress. If government would have stayed within those boundaries – all of us would be free – not slaves to a growing administrative state.