(ThyBlackMan.com) Corrupt politicians are an existential threat to our American way of life. The 2016 presidential campaign is in full swing and, yes, we are seeing corruption unveiled on a daily basis. Many citizens are stressed and fearful; the future of America is at stake.
However, one would almost think these politicos stand as the sole cause of America’s potential demise. The argument rages: “It’s the Senate, it’s the House, it’s the IRS, it’s the CIA, it’s the FBI and most of all it’s the president.”
As we prepare to elect a new president, it is critical that the person we place in office should come as the result of the votes of an informed populace.
We have become so accustomed to laying all our ills at the feet of our leaders that we have gotten to the point where not a single ounce of responsibility lies at the doorstep of those truly responsible for the current state of affairs. We absolve the true culprits of responsibility and then wonder how on earth we could find ourselves in such a predicament. It seems we have forgotten who is really in charge and, subsequently, who is to blame. The real guilty parties? The American population: “We, the People.”
I have often written about the miracle of the American republic, how it was conceived and the Divine wisdom imparted to our Founders as they labored to coalesce 13 colonies of independent
minds and regional peculiarities into a single great enterprise. This experiment, endeavor, enterprise has become the envy of the world and has singularly protected the rights of American citizens since March 4, 1789.
Much has been written about the protections afforded to us by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We are, indeed, a blessed nation and should be extremely grateful to the thousands who died to secure and defend these rights and privileges. And, yes, we, like many other nations, had slavery – but we also fought the bloodiest war in our history to end it.
Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico are poster children for the failure of their people to place legitimate, law-abiding politicians with concern for the people in office. Instead, they have allowed gangsters, gunmen and greedy, corrupt dictators to become their leaders. As a result, a Pew Research report, which is based on a Department of Homeland Security report, classifies two of the aforementioned countries as “world’s most violent,” and all four are steeped in deep poverty. (Just FYI, an extremely high percentage of the “refugees” – i.e., illegal aliens with below-average education levels – subsist on your tax dollars … oops, sorry: “government assistance.”)
Deliberately excluding God from the public square is certainly a major cause of many of America’s challenges today, but that’s for another column. For now, let me just say “We, the People” is one of the major reasons we are where we are today. We vote for people based on their looks, charm, promises and public relations departments, not for their knowledge of the construct of the American system of government and a true and uncorrupted commitment to it.
Many, if not most, of these politicians are seeking office with less-than-honorable motives and some primarily in pursuit of personal agendas. We elect them in spite of their, and our, lack of knowledge of America’s founding precepts, and then can’t understand the dire consequences, such as we are now facing. (What is happening at the Mexican border is a prime example.)
According to a U.S. State Department report, there are more than 4.4 million people awaiting legal entry into the U.S., and immigration experts say the total number is probably much higher.
Does anyone really wonder why there are literally millions of people waiting to come to America? In a word: freedom. America is the premier example of “liberty and justice for all” in the world today. People come here and, like you, are given the freedom to succeed or fail as they choose.
If we seriously consider how easily this gift of freedom, purchased with the blood of patriots, can slip away, perhaps we would come to our senses and realize that a few voting cycles of engaged and informed Americans could actually bring us back from the precipice.
We cannot afford to carelessly surrender our responsibility to be an informed citizenry who is prepared to vote into office only those who truly represent the Founders’ concepts of freedom. This requires effort on our part, of course, but if we care enough to safeguard our precious freedoms, and clear the corruption wherever we find it, there is still time to turn the ship of state around and sail into open waters again.
All of the brilliance of the God-ordained principles behind America’s founding documents cannot make up for the ignorance of a people who do not seriously consider, and research, the choices set before them. With this knowledge, they should then in every election vote only for those do not forget that “We, the People” are the rulers of the United States of America – not 435 representatives, 100 senators, nine Supreme Court justices and one president.
It’s about us!
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be” – Thomas Jefferson.
Written by Ben Kinchlow
Official website; http://www.benkinchlow.com