It's Time to Pay Close Attention to the Politicians
By Frank Salvato
October 9, 2009
I have long said that we, the citizens of the United States, must demand good government over politics from our elected officials. The need for this demand has grown exponentially over the past four decades. While We the People were pre-occupied with the trappings of the self-centered 1960s, the self-absorption of the 1970s, the greed culture of the 1980s and the falsely elevated self-esteem culture of the 1990s, political opportunists and special interest operatives, cloaked in the façade of public service, quietly took control of our federal government. Now we are paying the price of cronyism politics over good government.
The Founders and the Framers conceived of and created our Constitutional Republic with the understanding that every American citizen would cherish the Charters of Freedom -- The Declaration of Independence, The US Constitution and The Bill of Rights -- as a contract, a covenant between citizen and government. In keeping up our end of the contract, the Framers took for granted that we would work to be constitutionally literate while providing governmental oversight. It never occurred to them that we would abdicate our responsibility to liberty, to freedom, the gifts they fought a Revolutionary War to attain for themselves, for us and for future generations of free Americans. It never occurred to them that those who would be bequeathed liberty and freedom would ignore their maintenance in deference to a culture of narcissism.
Today, looking upon what our government has become -- a gaggle of political opportunists, special interest courtesans and revolutionary neo-Marxists -- the Founders, Framers and revolutionaries would have to wonder if it was all worth their sacrifices and the sacrifices made by their families.
An unknown author, as cited by the BethlehemPA.com, website observes:
"What happened to the signers of the Declaration of Independence?
"Five signers were captured by the British and brutally tortured as traitors. Nine fought in the War for Independence and died from wounds or from hardships they suffered. Two lost their sons in the Continental Army. Another two had sons captured. At least a dozen of the fifty-six had their homes pillaged and burned.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-five were lawyers or jurists. Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers or large plantation owners. One was a teacher, one a musician, and one a printer. These were men of means and education, yet they signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing full well that the penalty could be death if they were captured."
It begs to be asked, would we of this generation have had the courage to enter into such a harrowing reality? Judging from the number of American citizens who routinely exclaim that they are "apolitical" or "too busy with their personal lives to find time to spend on politics" I would have to answer no. This is not to say that there aren't a significant number of American citizens who are engaged or that all elected officials in Washington DC are delinquent in their duties. In fact, with the advent of the Tea Party Movement, the creation of Capitol Hill groups dedicated to sovereignty and the Constitution, and more and more people wanting to find out "what they can do" to -- as Glenn Beck would say -- "re-found" our nation, I believe there is hope for our Constitutional Republic. Still, until we can achieve a politically educated electorate and voter turnouts that exceed those of Iraq and Afghanistan we shouldn't break our arms patting ourselves on the back.
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