What To Do – Vote Our Way Out Of The Mess

Why not just use our voting franchise to vote the republic back to constitutional rule?  Let’s look at it…

PRO:

1. It is, presumably, still possible – at least in most regions of the country (a few regions being so corrupt that an honest result of the voting process is very much in doubt).
2. It is the constitutionally approved, traditional way to change the direction of government in the USA.
3. Historically, congressional elections better represent differences in the “will of the people” because the voting districts are smaller making many of them free from the overwhelming “inner city” votes in the major metropolitan areas.

CON:

1. We were voted into this mess.
2. Those who, in one way or another, are dependent on government for their sustenance, constitute a voting majority in many voting precincts.
3. It is two years until the next congressional elections and four years until the next presidential election.  A lot of harm can be done in two to four years.
4. The court system is a very real part of the problem in that it has totally failed to keep its collective oath to protect and defend the Constitution.  When the courts went -from- ensuring the acts of the other 2 branches of government were consistent with constitutional rule -to- constantly “interpreting” and “reinterpreting” the intent of a “living” constitution and legislating from the bench, it became an enemy of constitutional rule, rather than its enforcer.  I raise this point because replacing a meaningful portion of the federal court system, via the voting process, will take many years.  A wholesale impeachment of errant judges is too much to expect.

ISSUES:

1. Who do we vote for?  That is, where will we get viable candidates who support a constitutional republic?  It is quite obvious that most Democrats do not fit this description, and, the experience of the GW Bush administration shows many Republicans to be no better.
2. Even if we get the kind of candidates we need, how do we know they will stay that way?  There are several very powerful factors working against an office holder remaining true to his/her commitments.  These include the seduction of power plus the more practical fact that, when plunder is the rule rather than the exception, a legislator may honestly feel she/he is cheating his constituents by not going along to secure their fair share.
3. How can we push secondary issues to the background so that they do not polarize, ergo split, the votes of people who actually agree on the primary issues?  Stated another way, with the very survival of free markets in a constitutional republic at stake, issues like abortion, gay marriage, prayer in schools, etc., are really not that important, even though many voters have strong opinions about them.  If we lose the freedom to choose, our preferences on these secondary issues will be beside the point!

ASSESSMENT:

While highly desirable, changing the current direction of government through the voting process is problematic.  So long as the franchise is extended to slackers and political morons, voting is less than a totally reliable approach.  I suggest that this approach should be seriously pursued, but with realistic expectations -and- with other approaches being pursued in parallel.

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