Here's the basic premise in the founding of the Enlightenment Model of the US: Rights were given to you by your Creator, not by your government. Your government didn't give them to you so, they can't take them away. Furthermore the 9th Amendment to the Constitution makes these guarantees explicit. If any person in the government tries to take them away anyway, despite lacking any authority to do so, they are traitors to the citizens and must be treated as such.
A common misconception regarding the US government is that it is not the case that they start with total power and authority and the Constitution then subtracts from those powers. Under the Constitutional Principle of Enumerated Powers and despite common wisdom, the government actually starts with zero power. Powers are then granted (Enumerated) by the Constitution. This means that our Natural Rights such as the right to Privacy or the right to Free Speech do not need to be explicitly granted to the populace - we have them by default. (The Bill of Rights, while unnecessary, is a constant reminder of these exquisite qualities as well as an invaluable educational tool.) What it does mean is that the government cannot violate those rights unless the ability to do so is explicitly granted by the Constitution - which in those cases it is not.
That’s all there is to it. Not many things are more genius in their brevity—We hold all of the cards, they serve at our indulgence. Any power or action not explicitly granted by, We The People, the government cannot legitimately wield or execute. When they do so anyway, it is our civic duty to evict and convict them. When we fail to perform this task…
For too long we've sat back, relaxed, and let the government police itself, and by doing so have given the wolves the keys to the hen house while naively expecting - in our blissful ignorance - for the Chickens to be in good hands...
Those Chickens have been and are being slaughtered, and the time has come for us to put those wolves in prison and to take back what is ours.
Despite what the government at every level wants badly for you to believe, you do not serve them. They serve you.
It is miserably fucking difficult to implement. Implementation of it requires:
a) that the majority of the VAST population *understand* it (which means the majority of the population needs to be taught it before they're out of middle school. Trust me on this; also, it can be done. Kids are a lot smarter than most adults think.)
b) once you've achieved, say, 90% minimum of the population understanding how it actually works, the population has a duty, possibly the only civic duty more important than voting, to be constantly watchful and vigilant of their governments at all levels. Why? Because unless the governments (federal, state, even local) know damned good and well that they're being watched constantly, they will try to erode first the people's understanding of their rights, then the rights themselves. They will do it for their own convenience and profit, and the only thing that will stop them is the knowledge that if they try it, they'll be caught and publicly humiliated, charged and convicted, and punished - because the moral best of us very rarely become successful politicians. This is why the quality and funding of public education are fucking foundational elements of a healthy (hell, a functioning!) democracy.
c) since the people have to be constantly vigilant, they also need a constant sense of urgency. They need a sense of what will happen if they AREN'T constantly vigilant. That problem, at least, will be solved for two or three generations after Trump - assuming that America manages to regain its democracy and doesn't continue down the path to fascism.
Get Trump out of office. Cancel everything he did and the Patriot Act too, since its existence allowed him to get away with a lot of this. Reverse district gerrymandering. Completely revamp American public education. Never stop watching, never lose that sense of urgency. That's the bare minimum of what America needs to accomplish to safeguard its democracy.
Difficult to implement? Kind of an understatement. But it's utterly essential if you don't want to live under fascist government.
Thank you for this link. It was indeed right up my alley! I restacked it because, despite my paltry, paltry following here, I feel that this piece should be read by everyone, everywhere - this issue is not limited to America. I'm in Canada, and we have exactly the same problems, including the deliberate removal/de-emphasis of civics from basic education. There's a fair chunk of our population that seems to have forgotten, or never learned, that Canada is a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, not the American republic. Just for example.
Most excellent…a truly enjoyable diversion and a brilliant imagining of the Ghouls inevitable end. I only pray I live long enough to see this regime bent and broken
Here's the basic premise in the founding of the Enlightenment Model of the US: Rights were given to you by your Creator, not by your government. Your government didn't give them to you so, they can't take them away. Furthermore the 9th Amendment to the Constitution makes these guarantees explicit. If any person in the government tries to take them away anyway, despite lacking any authority to do so, they are traitors to the citizens and must be treated as such.
A common misconception regarding the US government is that it is not the case that they start with total power and authority and the Constitution then subtracts from those powers. Under the Constitutional Principle of Enumerated Powers and despite common wisdom, the government actually starts with zero power. Powers are then granted (Enumerated) by the Constitution. This means that our Natural Rights such as the right to Privacy or the right to Free Speech do not need to be explicitly granted to the populace - we have them by default. (The Bill of Rights, while unnecessary, is a constant reminder of these exquisite qualities as well as an invaluable educational tool.) What it does mean is that the government cannot violate those rights unless the ability to do so is explicitly granted by the Constitution - which in those cases it is not.
That’s all there is to it. Not many things are more genius in their brevity—We hold all of the cards, they serve at our indulgence. Any power or action not explicitly granted by, We The People, the government cannot legitimately wield or execute. When they do so anyway, it is our civic duty to evict and convict them. When we fail to perform this task…
For too long we've sat back, relaxed, and let the government police itself, and by doing so have given the wolves the keys to the hen house while naively expecting - in our blissful ignorance - for the Chickens to be in good hands...
Those Chickens have been and are being slaughtered, and the time has come for us to put those wolves in prison and to take back what is ours.
Despite what the government at every level wants badly for you to believe, you do not serve them. They serve you.
This is beautifully said & easy to understand, yet very difficult to implement,…unless I’m missing something.
It is miserably fucking difficult to implement. Implementation of it requires:
a) that the majority of the VAST population *understand* it (which means the majority of the population needs to be taught it before they're out of middle school. Trust me on this; also, it can be done. Kids are a lot smarter than most adults think.)
b) once you've achieved, say, 90% minimum of the population understanding how it actually works, the population has a duty, possibly the only civic duty more important than voting, to be constantly watchful and vigilant of their governments at all levels. Why? Because unless the governments (federal, state, even local) know damned good and well that they're being watched constantly, they will try to erode first the people's understanding of their rights, then the rights themselves. They will do it for their own convenience and profit, and the only thing that will stop them is the knowledge that if they try it, they'll be caught and publicly humiliated, charged and convicted, and punished - because the moral best of us very rarely become successful politicians. This is why the quality and funding of public education are fucking foundational elements of a healthy (hell, a functioning!) democracy.
c) since the people have to be constantly vigilant, they also need a constant sense of urgency. They need a sense of what will happen if they AREN'T constantly vigilant. That problem, at least, will be solved for two or three generations after Trump - assuming that America manages to regain its democracy and doesn't continue down the path to fascism.
Get Trump out of office. Cancel everything he did and the Patriot Act too, since its existence allowed him to get away with a lot of this. Reverse district gerrymandering. Completely revamp American public education. Never stop watching, never lose that sense of urgency. That's the bare minimum of what America needs to accomplish to safeguard its democracy.
Difficult to implement? Kind of an understatement. But it's utterly essential if you don't want to live under fascist government.
You got it! I think you will find this short essay right up your alley:
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/apathy-is-the-fire-in-which-we-burn
Thank you for this link. It was indeed right up my alley! I restacked it because, despite my paltry, paltry following here, I feel that this piece should be read by everyone, everywhere - this issue is not limited to America. I'm in Canada, and we have exactly the same problems, including the deliberate removal/de-emphasis of civics from basic education. There's a fair chunk of our population that seems to have forgotten, or never learned, that Canada is a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, not the American republic. Just for example.
Brilliant doggerel!!! 😁
That was a wonderful poem, kudos to whoever wrote it.
Agreed!
Kudos!!
Hope #oldnanafordemocracy #hugs
Thank you for the spark of hope !
Beautiful...
This got me to share my 5 gift subscriptions...
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Aww shucks!
I do love me a narrative poem, especially when it's clever and brimming with righteous indignation.
Most excellent…a truly enjoyable diversion and a brilliant imagining of the Ghouls inevitable end. I only pray I live long enough to see this regime bent and broken
This is brilliant.
Beautifully written! True,clear and to the point!
So clever. Thanks for offering hope in such an entertaining way.