24 Feb America’s Firewall to Stop the Slide into Slavery
By John Anthony
In the 1600’s David Hitchborn migrated to America and spent his life in servitude. Within four generations, the family became free property holders, business owners and respected burghers. By 1734, David’s great-great grandson, patriot Paul Revere was born into the influential Boston family.
This is the classic American saga of the rise from serfdom to freedom. Yet today, American freedom is in reverse.
The choices bred from our forebears’ sacrifices are swirling down a cultural cesspit of renewed servitude.
From Wilson’s progressivism and FDR’s New Deal to Barack Obama’s sustainability, a parade of demagogues has turned the idea of American freedom into whispered conversations in a campus ‘free speech zone’.
The 2009 stimulus package coupled with the doubling of US debt has cast a future where the only thing sustained is the financial burden.
Obamacare federalized patient’s most sensitive medical information, and then bullied doctors into feeding the data to the government or face reduced Medicare reimbursements.
Common Core stripped the privacy protections for our children, while demanding that testing companies funnel students’ personally identifiable data directly to federal agencies.
Everywhere you turn, Americans are under mounting control.
Federal agencies monitor personal bank transactions, while the government confiscates life-savings with without filing charges; and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shutters legitimate businesses at the president’s whim.
Americans are managed, not free.
Yet, in spite of the growing autocracy, our Founders handed us the way out. No, not an Article 5 convention. It is the efficiency of “local rule.”
Washington DC’s corruption and politicians’ thirst for wealth and power are the only truly bi-partisan efforts in our capital. The further the hoodlums are from those who elected them, the less transparent are their agendas and deals. The less we can do to stop them.
Local politics keeps the players close to the voters. They are more visible and the people can expose their agendas and rein in their deals.
I asked a close friend, who also happens to be a county commissioner, who was his choice for the 2017 president. Knowing he is a savvy voter who understands the players and the plays, I was surprised when he said, “I don’t worry about that. I focus on local elections.”
I’m not suggesting to ignore national elections, but my friend made a good point.
When you engage locally, you may be voting for your next-door neighbor. You are holding accountable people that you know. You can have coffee with the seat of power and be a part of the important political process. This is the system our Founders had in mind. No matter how large our country becomes, the seeds of tomorrow’s national leaders are sown in our backyards today.
When we inaugurate our next president, what say will you have in that administration? What influence will you wield in those decisions for the next four years?
Trump and Cruz and Sanders are popular in 2016 because they defy the establishment we despise. But, it is an establishment we allowed, not one that we created. We can only create it by fully engaging at the local level and following our candidates as they mature.
The federal government understands the threat posed by local rule. That is why, to consolidate their power, they promote and generously fund regionalism. The lofty programs all replace political boundaries and local rule with regional growth lines and unelected councils.
HUD’s newest initiative, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, only furthers the dissolution of local rule through codified threats.
We can ascend into freedom. But we must engage in local politics. Get involved and hold on fiercely. We have the power, as Ben Franklin said, “If we can keep it.”
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