Before this topic gets locked (thanks for your patients tecoyah) I would like a chance to add my food for thought to see if we can get a good discussion going here. First, it seems somewhat ironic to me that every time things get rough here in the States, part of our population starts migrating to Canada (think back to Vietnam/Korean War era, Civil War era, heck even the Revolutionary War era). I also find it somewhat ironic that the response that the (quote) “winning side” during these eras has towards those leaving seems to be “Love it or leave it”. True, I don’t think that one should go around “America hating” (that is to say hating all thing American simply because they are American), but to me it seems possible to love one’s country but hate the things that it does, and this shouldn’t make one unpatriotic or feel like one should be “forced” to leave one’s country. I would liken this analogy to that of a parent of a misbehaving child. The parent loves the child, but does not approve of actions that the child may take (or better yet for all the good christians in the crowd, God, who loves the sinner but hates the sin). When I hear political pundits (on both sides of the isle) make claims that their opinion is the only correct one and that everyone who disagrees with them (usually the minority) is not only wrong but unpatriotic and un-American, it strikes me that (not only are they unpatriotic and un-American to say such things) this is like the child claiming the parent doesn’t love them anymore because the parent doesn’t approve of the child’s behavior (and I just realized that some of you might read this and think that I am in some way attempting to claim that (insert your party name here) is somehow misbehaving like a child, and that we the “parents” really know what is best. I am not promoting this at all, just attempting to draw an analogy to demonstrate my point).
Second, according to Machiavelli there are two sort of people in the world, those who want to rule and those who don’t want to be ruled. The vast majority of Americans fall into this second category. Most of us just want to go about our daily lives free from governmental interference, and to a very large extent that is exactly what we get. I would venture to say that if one were to really step back a minute to look at this past presidential election the single fundamental underlying motivating factor for most voters was not moral/religious values, the war in Iraq/terrorism, the economy, or any other of the various “issues” claimed by the political pundits to be deciding factors. Sure these issues may have all played a part in the decision process of the voters, but the single fundamental underlying motivating factor of almost every voter in this election (as in all elections) is people chose to vote for the candidate that they believed would do the best job of protecting their rights and freedoms (from either governmental interference, corporate interference, or other).
Third, regardless of who came out with the most (popular or otherwise) votes in this election, neither side has a “clear mandate” from the American public (Bush for business as usual or Kerry for fighting against the evil neo-cons). Why do I say this? There are (approximately) 294,765,025 people in the US (see U.S. Census Bureau) and even as hotly contested as this election was only 120 million or so of them showed up to vote. Even taking into account that about 33.5 million people in America are not citizens (leaving about 261.2 million) less then half of all American’s voted in this year’s election. Even if we are to use the “eligible voter standard” (which can be somewhat arbitrary depending on who is using it) only 60% of those eligible to vote did, giving Bush less then 1/3 of the vote of the people (just for comparison Clinton won with less then 1/4). The vast majority of Americans “voted” by not showing up at the polls. Why? Because they either don’t see either side as posing a serious threat to their freedoms or they don’t see one side offering a better option then the other and simply have resigned themselves.
Lastly, our founding fathers understood Machiavelli’s take on human nature and gave us a government designed to limit the abilities of those few who wish to rule over the rest of us. For Democracy to work there must be open debate and compromise. It is not sufficient for one side to gain a majority and then force its rule over the minority claiming “mandates” and “legitimacy” and blaming all those who dare to disagree with their side unpatriotic and un-American. This is not a democracy, it is an elected dictatorship.
I personally am a revolutionary and there is another one scheduled in 2 years. Until that time I will do what little I can to shape the face of politics in my community. For those of you who are disgusted with the direction that this country is headed I say stay, join the revolution and fight for your rights and your vision of America. We can’t expect change to happen overnight, but if each one of us does his own part to effect change within his sphere of influence, together we can change the world.
When asked at the close of the constitutional convention “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it”.
