Your Duty

Well, by the time you are reading this you have made up your mind on who to vote for for President. Also, by the end of the day you will see that… what… wait a minute, John Spratt is running again. John Spratt was expecting such an assault on his re-election he opened his Campaign Headquarters on September, 6th 2008. That’s right, less than two months before the actual vote. Seems that Dr. Albert Spencer is not quite doing the trick as the Republican alternative. Why? I don’t think I can blame Dr. Spencer. I blame me. And you!


Apparently we are so happy with our government that we don’t need a change. Apparently we think Spratt’s 26 year career as a politician is good for the country and good for SC. Apparently we don’t want change and America is just fine.


But, that is not what we have been told. We have been told that America is on the brink. That the world hates us. That “the economy” is folding and the sky is falling. If you believe all of this (true or not) you have been told to vote for “change”. Well why, pray tell, do we continue to vote incumbents into office over and over and over and OVER?


John Spratt will win quite handily today. And if you are someone who is voting the “change” ticket, why did you vote for the same guy this year? If you are a Republican and voted for Spratt…ha! Never tell me. Never. Because I will not be able to hold my tongue. A Republican that votes for Spratt is quite seriously the worst kind of a Republican and in no way is a Conservative. This means, as a Republican, you actually have ZERO grasp of the issues. You want less government, yet vote for more. You want lower taxes, yet vote for more. You want more individual freedom, yet vote for less. You want Constitutional protections, yet vote for liberal judges. NO, don’t ever tell me that you voted for Spratt if you are a Republican!


I said all of the above to say this, elections are less about being informed and more about shouting matches. Elections are about candidates finding your biases and playing to these biases. Not about points of contention or contrary ideas. Elections are about motivating the mindless masses of each party to show up and vote and publicizing “wedge issues” to get the on the fence votes down on your side.


Sadly this is not what makes a State. This is not what makes a Republic. This is what makes an Oligarchy, where political power rests with an ELITE few. Thomas Jefferson told us what makes a State in a letter to John Taylor in May of 1816. He quotes Sir William Jones:


What constitutes a State?
Not high-raised battlements, or labor’d mound,
Thick wall, or moated gate;
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crown’d;


Men, who their duties know;
But know their rights’ and knowing, dare maintain.
These constitute a State.


Does Jefferson via Jones speak of you? Do you dare maintain your rights in the face of the Oligarchy? Or do you freely give them to the Leviathan to spread to whom it sees fit? Do you know your duty? Your duty that I have spoken of time and again to be informed? Or are you mesmerized by the rhetoric and swayed by the crowd unable to make your own decision. Can you summarize your candidate’s positions? “Change” is not a position. Being black is not a position. Being a war hero is not a position. Being a Republican is not a position.


Have you freely given up your rights and shirk your duty?