Keeping the Greatest Country on Earth

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It’s true.  In spite of all its current problems, the United States of America is still the greatest country on earth. There is a myriad of reasons why I say this, none of which I’m going to explain in this post.  If you don’t believe it, you might ask a few of the millions of immigrants (legal and illegal) who’ve risked everything to come here and make new lives for themselves. 

I try to stay away from religion and politics in this blog, but the politics is hard when the national presidential election is just a week away.  Still, I hope you’ll stick with me as I still try hard to steer away from politics and focus instead on how this great country was designed. 

I am a Boomer, a product of the education system in America when it was primarily controlled by local and state agencies.  The federal Department of Education didn’t become a cabinet-level position in the U.S. until 1980, nearly a decade after I graduated from high school.  I remember civics classes in high school.  They were never my favorite.  Nor was history, classes I also remember fairly vividly.  However, I learned things in those classes I’ve used over and over and over again, especially today.

Civic classes were a big deal when I was in school but toward the end of the 1960s, because (the internet says) of the social unrest and dis-ease caused by opposition to The Vietnam War, civics education was downplayed.  It was absorbed into a broader, more innocuous and “acceptable” category dubbed social studies. 

I’m grateful for my mid-20^th century civics education because it gives me the advantage of now understanding the techniques and half-truths those who attempt to influence voters use.  And yes, both sides use these techniques and half-truths.  I’m not trying to persuade you one way or another here, I’m just trying to educate you to be on the lookout for things so you can seek out truth to make your own decisions.  Forewarned is forearmed, as they say. I am a person who thinks for themselves. When I’m told something, I first think about whether it makes sense, then whether it is reasonable, and if it is sensationalized for emotional impact. Then I do a little research to see if it’s true, partially true, or twisted in some way to make me think it’s true or designed to make me think in a certain way. Then, finally, I decide what to think and believe.

One of my very hottest hot buttons is when something is argued to be true because we live in a democracy.  Democracy is a word familiar to everyone, but as the form of government in the United States, it is misunderstood and misleading.  The Founding Fathers were not champions of democracy, which they saw as mob rule.  In fact, most of them were utterly opposed to a direct democracy.  Thankfully, these men were educated, intelligent, wise, and thoughtful men who established a government by the people (which is the simplest definition of democracy), and for the people, but designed it as a Republic.  The Electoral College was specifically designed to prevent mob rule and to fairly represent not only the interests and desires of the individual people, but also of each of the States (of the United States).

Nowhere in the Constitution of the United States or in the Declaration of Independence will you find the word democracy.  Article 4, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution clearly states the United States is a republic:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

In fact, the Founding Fathers designed the government of the United States of America to be a Representative Republic.  This means that the people (who are ultimately in charge of the government) elect their (supposed) peers to represent them in lawmaking and governance.  This form of government assumes free and fair elections and peaceful transition of power. 

There is a famous, oft-repeated, story of a group of citizens confronting Benjamin Franklin upon exiting the Constitutional Convention.  Asking what sort of government the delegates had created, Franklin answered, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” He obviously knew that mere men and women are corruptible.

Another Founding Father, John Adams, who, at the time, was the second President of the United States, wrote in a letter to the Massachusetts Militia in 1798 that “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”.

Therein lies the rub in 2024.  Morality and virtue are necessary for a self-governing people.  Corruption runs rampant through society today.  Though many are aware of it, few believe there is anything they can do about it.  I heard a statistic yesterday that there’s virtually no one who believes there is NO evidence of some level of fraud in elections the past 10 years.  In other words, election fraud has been accepted and normalized in our election system throughout the country.  Think about it. Do you believe, or do you know anyone who believes that there is NO level of fraud in any elections these days?

Which means that wise, old Ben Franklin seems to have been prescient.  We are in very real danger of losing our Republic. 

The big question is…What can I do about it? 

Here’s what I think.

1. Educate yourself about what the truth is.  When banks and law enforcement train people to spot counterfeit money, they study the real thing so they can recognize when it’s not real.  Educate yourself on how the Founding Fathers designed this country so you can recognize when someone is trying to persuade and bamboozle you.  Then speak truth and educate others as well. 
2. Doing nothing is tacit approval.  Don’t allow yourself to be bullied into accepting what you know to be wrong, untruthful, or dishonest.  Yes, it’s a risk, but bullies often back down when called out.   And remember, we the people are much stronger and more numerous than the few crooks who are trying to bully us.  They don’t want you to know that, but it’s absolutely true.
3. Find like minded people and form groups that will stand together against tyranny (cruel and oppressive government or rule).   Mandates, rules, directives, orders, and decrees (etc.) are not laws.  Refuse to comply.  Ask what gives them a right to control you over the situation.  Yes, this is uncomfortable but see #2 above. 
4. Question everything.  Think for yourself. Make elected and appointed government officials answer for their actions.  Again, this can be uncomfortable, but sunshine is a great disinfectant.  Courage, said John Wayne, is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.  And Franklin Roosevelt said “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” What’s more important than maintaining true freedom and prosperity for future Americans?
5. Vote for candidates who will create the kind of America you want to live in, and you want your children and grandchildren to live in.  Do everything in your power to demand and assure that elections are free and fair, and the winner of the election was truly the choice of the people. 

I like the idea of going back to hand counted paper ballots and when you vote, you dip your finger in indelible purple ink.  I hate the idea of using technology for our sacred right to vote.  Someone who is not you controls technology.  And no matter what they claim, technology can be programmed to give the results the programmer (or the one who pays him or her) wants to see. 

Finally, pray for truth to be revealed and justice to be done. 

P.S.  It’s important to know how constitutional amendments get onto a ballot.  Constitutions should not be easy to change or add based on current social issues.  In most States where citizen initiatives are placed on a ballot, it’s important to find out who paid for the process of qualifying for the ballot and what’s to be gained by them for doing so.  Usually there’s BIG MONEY to be gained.  Think! There are often unintended consequences. For the love of fellow and future Americans, read the entire amendment for yourself.  Make sure you have an understanding of all aspects of the ADDITION (that’s what an amendment is) to the Constitution.  Don’t just make your voting decision by listening to the paid (biased) propaganda from both sides. 

P.P.S. Yesterday I heard a commentator say that something is always true, it doesn’t just become true when you finally hear about it. It startled me, but that statement is absolutely true. News media today doesn’t report things they don’t want you to know about. That doesn’t make things that are happening any less true even when you don’t hear about it on TV.