“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country!”
We repeat these words and they sound great but what do they mean? We are certainly not standing in front of the executioner breathing our last words in defiance to a tyranny an ocean away, but we are patriots. We are just a little confused on how we fight a tyranny of our own making.
I tell you that I pledge my life, fortune and sacred honor, but what does that mean. I promise this that I will not stop fighting to save what I see as a dying nation till my last breath is drawn, but how do I or we do that?
When I ran for office I knocked upon thousands and thousands of doors and the sentiment was practically the same on every door step. The federal government is out of control and our debt is out of control, and we must do something to rein them in. For a nation that was founded on the idea of liberty, freedom and a better life for all, for the first time in our nation’s history we are leaving our children and grandchildren a nation much worse than the one we were given.
The two recent Supreme Court decisions on Obamacare and marriage were made in total disregard to the will of the American people. What we have now is more than just an out-of-control judiciary, but an assault on the traditional values and beliefs of the American people. As states’ rights are trampled, and every fight by states through interposition is simply swept away, the people and states must stand up and re-establish the states as the parent in this Republic; to do otherwise is irresponsible and does nothing but pass our problems onto those that follow.
Today we are not fighting a faceless tyrant an ocean away, but a system that we have allowed to be tyrannical by our own choosing. Raising arms is not an option, so we must look to those brave men and women who sacrificed all to break the bonds of tyranny over 200 years ago. We must put ourselves in the shoes of our founders and ask ourselves, “What would they do?”
One day down the road, 10, 20 years or more, we must look back and answer the question, “What did we do when we saw this disaster heading our way?” It is incumbent upon us as states and citizens to fight to save a nation that is dying. Whether we use the constitution our founders gave us, or some other means, we must not sit idly back and hope that the ship will right itself, because it will not.
We will never have a perfect world, with perfect people representing us. We need to regain the Republic our founders gave us, where states are equally represented in our federal government. Our Republic is dissolving because states have lost their place of sovereignty in this Republic.
“The time is now to stand together to push back against the federal government and restore the balance of power.”
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We need real solutions to real problems, not pipe dreams of things unachievable. To continue to do what we have been doing is nothing; it has not and will not correct the imbalance of power we see today. If we sit back and just spout words that make us feel good, poke and prod those around us that don’t agree with us every time; therefore, they must not be as conservative as we are, what does it achieve? Nothing.
It is high time conservatives in Oklahoma and around the country took action that might truly make a difference. If there were man-made global warming it would be caused by the ceaseless political hot air by conservatives that suggest ideas that will do nothing to correct the situation we find ourselves in. Every time a politician, or anyone else for that matter, tells of some great idea that will bring our nation back in line, we should ask ourselves: is there any chance of success? What would it fix? Is there legal or constitutional support for the idea? Is the idea reliant on leaders that would never take on or champion the idea? Who will implement the idea? Has the idea ever been tried? Is the author implementing the idea?
The US Constitution gives the states the power needed to correct this obvious imbalance of power. As the Father of our Constitution, James Madison, stated, if the rights of the states are usurped by the federal government the states must correct these abuses through amendments proposed by the states through Article V of the US Constitution. If we do not exercise the power entrusted to the states to correct the abuses, we must answer why.
“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country!”
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Similar to 1865 we are in a window of time unlike anything since the 1930s. With 69 of 99 legislative chambers controlled by Republicans our time is now. Like Lincoln said our time is now, not tomorrow, not the day after but now. If we just choose to sit back and not act we must answer our children and grandchildren one day and defend to them why we did nothing. Why we didn’t use the constitution as our founders instructed us to right the balance between state and federal power?
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| Senator Rob Standridge guest contributor |
"If we just choose to sit back and not act we must answer our children and grandchildren one day and defend to them why we did nothing. Why we didn’t use the constitution as our founders instructed us to right the balance between state and federal power?"
ReplyDeleteI will tell my grandchildren that I tried to convince people that the only way we will be able to effect any positive change in our life, liberty, and happiness, now that the constitution has been reduced to a relic of the past, is thru nullification, interposition, and if need be, just flat out civil disobediance. But there were still those hangers on that thought they were doing the right thing by following an article of the constitution. That divided us as concerned citizens, and here we are now...
I would go on to tell them how the experiment, called the republican form of government got off to a shaky start and was several times threatened before finally being ended in 1860 when old "honest Abe" sent Union troops to attack the southern states, that at that time, still thought we were a voluntary Union.......