Election season again and the typical words flying around about saving the Democracy. I’m sure they’re heartfelt – but terribly misplaced. We do not now, nor have we ever, had a Democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic. And it is that fact that has enabled our nation to endure for the past 248 years. Let me say a few words on what it means to be a Constitutional Republic and then a few more on how our political parties decide and proclaim what they stand for are and wish to enact if elected.
A Republic is - a
government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to
vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to
them and governing according to law (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
Our Republic is guided by
the Constitution. While it outlines our
form of government and the duties and responsibilities of each different
segment to me the most important are the “Bill of Rights” – in particularly the
First Amendment – freedom of speak our minds, Second Amendment – right to
defend ourselves against a tyrannical government and the Tenth Amendment that
states – “The powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” – meaning that the
government is constrained in their actions and can only do what is explicitly listed
in the Constitution and that THE PEOPLE are in control of the country, not those
that sit in Washington DC.
To facilitate the voice of
the people, our nation is divided into 50 states and each state is divided into
smaller geographic regions called counties.
Within those counties the people represent their individual positions
through the participation in political parties.
Your individual voice is as large as you choose to make it, up to and
including become a Supervisor, Councilman, Mayor, Governor, State
Representative or Senator, US Representative, US Senator or even the President
of the United States. But it begins with
the County and your parties’ goals and desires for their constituents. This is the beauty of our system, its power
and its strength. And it’s the core
strength of the individual citizen working through like-minded people.
Much has been made of the
Heritage Foundations working document called Project 2025 . . . all 900+ pages
of it. There are some determined to hang
this boat anchor around the neck of Donald Trump and the Republican party. Sadly, for them, all have disavowed this
particular behemoth of verbal diarrhea. Here’s a clue . . . if you cannot clearly and
concisely explain your position in a single page – don’t bother printing it
because NO ONE is going to read and digest a 900+ page document. And if you cannot be clear enough to state
your major goals in a single page – you will never muster the support needed to
get them passed.
This is the beauty of County
party conventions. County party
delegates come together to hammer out what is important to their constituents
in their county, and they hammer out a county platform that details them
concerns and desires. Here the idea that
is clear and simple will win the day. The
state convention then takes all the county platforms and molds them into a
Party Platform for the state. States
then meet in a National convention and mold all these platforms into a single Party
Platform that began in small towns across America and this year will end with
Platforms being written in Milwaukee and Chicago. For the Republicans, this has been done. You can find it here . . . Republican_Party_Platform_2024.pdf
(ballotpedia.s3.amazonaws.com) . Twenty Specific goals are defined – from securing our
borders to bringing unity to our nation.
They take up a single page. These
are expanded on with methods to accomplish them with an additional 15 pages
being added. 16 Pages – NOT 900+. That is what Candidate Trump and the
Republican Party have signed their name to.
That is what you should read and see if they fit with your individual goals
and ideals or not.
When I search for the
Democrats 2024 Platform I am greeted with a page filled with promises . . . DNC
Releases 2024 Party Platform Draft, Outlining Historic Record and Bold Agenda
for President Biden and Vice President Harris to Finish the Job - Democrats
Yet, when I follow the link to the actual platform (Where We
Stand at the top of the page), I am greeted with a 91-page document entitled “2020
Democratic Party Platform”. Well, President
Biden is moving a bit slow of late, I’m sure the platform will catch up in
Chicago next month.
The advantage to this approach to governance is that it IS
NOT EASY, IT IS NOT FAST! And that was
the goal of the founders, to slow the process down and make it deliberate
enough to ensure each citizen that wishes to participate in their governance –
can.
Democracies have been called “Tyrannies of the Majority”. And our individual states have been called “Laboratories
of Democracy”. Meaning that individual
states can experiment, within the confines of their borders and within the
guidelines of the Constitution, on how they want themselves to be
governed. We, as fellow states, can then
observe, take a look at how their decisions worked for them and then choose to
follow suit or not. In today’s America
we seem to have settled into “Red States” – meaning primarily Republican and
conservative majorities and “Blue States” – meaning primarily leftist and
Democrat majorities. Some generalities
have bubbled out of observing Blue states.
Taxes are higher, crime in their major cities – think NYC, Chicago,
Portland, LA, San Francisco to name a few – is simply off the chart. Police forces are being “reimagined” and
their citizens and corporations are fleeing to the safety of “Red States”. The value to the country of this process is
that we can observe this Red and Blue experiment to see which serves our nation
better. For me, the answer is obvious.
Our nation is a marvel.
The fact that you can have as loud or soft a voice as you choose is
unique. And that we freely allow
multiple experiments in governance to be conducted in tandem is unique on the
planet.
This coming November 5th, you will choose the
next State Representatives and Senators.
You will choose the next Congressional Representatives and Senators to
represent Iowa in our nation’s Capital.
And you will choose the next President of the United States to lead our
nation. Your vote helps determine who
represents us, what their platform will be and who will lead the nation and our
Constitutional Republic. Find out what
each party has signed their name to, do your best to ignore the propaganda of
the parties and focus on the individual Party’s leadership’s written word and
the actual choices the parties have made in the past, and then make your choice
come November 5th.
Cause that’s how our Republic works!
