This post is in response to a comment on a blog. Essentially he said, among other things, “Boomers are always going, “muh Constitution, muh Constitution”. But that old doc has been abrogated piecemeal to where it hardly matters”. My response follows:
Those like yourself are part of the problem – boomers or otherwise. You are ignorant of our constitution and of our republic. Per your reference to “boomers”, I ascertain you belong to a subsequent generation. Therefore I do not have the background to grasp the scope of your ignorance. Thus I will relate the ignorance of my boomer generation.
Before I get into what we were not taught, we were taught American history among other things. I say this because I have a daughter, in high school, who cannot even say what Pearl Harbor or D-Day was, much less their significance. We were taught we live in a free country, a democracy based on a two-party system. We were taught that, as responsible citizens, it is our duty to vote.
What we (I personally, but I’ve seen evidence of this being wide-spread) were NOT taught: the difference between a constitutional republic and a democracy, our freedoms are immutable, our responsibility and duty as citizens are far more extensive than mere voting – we are to hold our representatives (not our “leaders”) responsible for everything they do in office, every dime they spend, the so-called “two-party system” is a scam devised to allow the controllers to seize the machinery of the representative process. Along with volumes more.
You are almost exactly correct when you say this has slipped away. Almost I say because the law of the land has not really “slipped” away, it was usurped. Here’s how:
Our public school system has indoctrinated citizens for 100 years, give or take. Search for John Dewey + Karl Marx. The income tax and the Federal Reserve enslaves us financially. FDR instituted (in more ways than one) Social Security – one of the most ingrained socialist programs ever to be initiated. All of this and more occurred while we and our parents and grandparents and their parents and grandparents stood idly by. With programs and institutions such as the above, our rights and freedoms have shrunk as these have expanded.
My generation looks back on a much more stable nation, yet we grew up in the 60’s where protests, bombings and riots were part of the landscape. Even so, those times are nothing like we see today. One can literally say things have gotten progressively worse.
Is there a solution? Certainly. However with every day that passes, I become more and more skeptical of such a solution taking hold. It would take WE the People – the citizens of this nation – to stand up and demand a return to a limited government, a constitutional republic. It would not happen overnight. Even a flesh wound takes time to heal, our nation requires several major surgeries. As a Christian, I no longer see this happening without divine intervention from God Almighty.
Strangely enough, the article Ken linked to was written by Richard Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government. I never heard of him before today, but I suspect we have a similar perspective. I detect more than a little cynicism in your rant. I cannot blame you. My own cynicism has morphed into something more like reluctant acceptance. I have not given up. I will never give up, even if our constitution is formally declared null and void. Why? Because, ultimately my rights stem, not from the document founding our republic, but from God Almighty. They are indeed immutable and I will defend them to my last breath.