Is Real Hope for Change Within Us Yet?

A politician came to town one weekend and it seemed as if the town had turned his visit into a holiday as they gathered at the park to hear his speech. These were the words all heard,

“The Declaration of Independence was more then a declaration that declared the colonies free of the motherland. It was a declaration of independence of the people from government itself. As an individualist we must declare our independence from society and all that it embodies.

It is from this concept that limited government is the desirable government. It is from this concept that we would have a government to arbitrate differences between individuals rather than regulate differences. This would be especially true in regards to the federal government.

We, as citizens, hold a unique position in that we hold dual citizenship. We are not only citizens of this nation but we are also citizens of the state we live in. Another unique aspect of our citizenship is the fact that if we move from one state to another we automatically become a citizen of that state. We need not take a loyalty oath when we do so as we would have to do if we moved to another State and we need not renounce our citizenship of our former state.

If people would visualize the United States in terms of the States of Europe they would have a better understanding of what the founding fathers were trying to build. They would visualize the North American continent as being made up of 51 separate States. This would include Canada and Mexico along with the forty-nine states that make up our nation. I am excluding Hawaii from this only because it isn’t a part of the continent.

More precisely, the founding fathers set up a form of government that separated wartime governance and peacetime governance. During times of war the federal government was to have supreme rule and the States, along with the people, united at these times to fight for a common cause. That cause was to be a winning cause.

During times of peace, the States would be the center of governance over the people with the federal government keeping a vigilant watch on the affairs of State in the world. Unfortunately, the War Between the States upset this delicate separation of powers.

While the Southern States were visibly subjugated under the rule of the federal government after the war what people do not realize is that it was silently subjugating all of the states under its rule at the same time. It is just a matter of applying the principle of what you do to one; you do to all. In this case it is when you take away the liberty of one state you take away the liberty of all states.

When this silent coup d’etat is complete then the people no longer identify themselves with their state interests. They begin to identify themselves with the national interests. When this happens then we may just as well tear up the Constitution because it will no longer have any meaning as intended. It would mean that We, the People have given up the liberty that the founding fathers had envisioned for the people. And when the people no longer have a vision for themselves as a free person their only future is one of being a slave to the State.

Remember this, my friends, there is no greater justice then the justness that is found in liberty and no greater injustice then the injustice that is found when a man is in the chains of enslavement. There is hope, my friends, but that hope for the future must come from you not from the government. There is hope, my friends but that hope must come from your confidence and faith in yourselves not in some politician. If there is to be change it must first come from within yourselves not in government. Yes, my friends there still is hope...”

Then a funny thing occurred. I sat straight up in my bed with a scream and sweat was rolling off of me. Then I realized that it had all been a nightmare. I had been dreaming of the affairs of today and about the kind of politician I’d like to see running for office.