I was heartened to watch a broadcast this past week of three candidates who are vying for the Republican nomination for the office of Governor of the State of Texas. What heartened me was the presence of one who is a true “citizen candidate”, as the founders envisioned our elected officials would and should be, squaring off against two life-long “professional politicians.” I would imagine that most citizens of any state who has any political savvy would recognize the names of the two professional politicians – Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and the incumbent Governor, Rick Perry, but I also strongly suspect that not only would every citizen outside the state of Texas but most inside the state would not recognize the name of this citizen candidate, Debra Medina – a private businesswoman, political activist, wife and mother.
You ask why would Debra Medina make me feel heartened to the point that I would start out this week’s post mentioning her and tying her to its title of a resurgence of anti-federalism? To answer that question I would offer you the link to the debate for you to see and hear for yourself: http://www.texasdebates.org/video.php. If you listen to this debate (and I would recommend skipping through the portions of the two professional establishment politicians so that you can listen to Ms. Medina’s responses) you will hear the voice of a modern-day anti-federalist. She accurately tied together the rights of individual citizens to bear arms (I would refer you to my three essays on this topic of second amendment rights, The Bill of Rights – What Were They Thinking – VII, VIII & IX) and their property rights, free from threat of government acquisition as going hand-in-hand with the concept of individual liberty. She proposes that law-abiding citizens be allowed to own weapons without registration requirements, for as she correctly pointed out from history, the only reason for doing this is to give government the knowledge of who to go to when they determine that these weapons should be confiscated (see the opening documentation that I give on this in the ninth post in my series on the Bill of Rights). She also put forth the concept that property taxes should be eliminated, for every homeowner knows that they never truly “own” their home, for should they fail to pay their property taxes the government can and will evict them and seize their home and property. Both of these positions were those that were dear to our anti-federalist founders and they warned against just the kind of threats our current governments, local, state and federal pose to our freedoms.
She also spoke of the failure of the federal government to fulfill its constitutionally obligated responsibility of protecting the nation’s borders as regards to illegal immigration (or as it should be more accurately titled, illegal “invasion”, for that is what it is) and that if the federal government would not step up to its obligations then it was time for the state of Texas to reassert its sovereignty as authorized in the (gasp) tenth amendment to the US Constitution – i.e., “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” - and put state troops on the border to protect the private property of the citizens who are suffering from these invaders who cross over onto their property. Again, sovereignty of the states and the power and rights of them was a driving force in the objections of the Anti-Federalists to the Constitution when it was being written, debated and ratified. In support of this need for the states to reassert their rights under the Constitution I offer for your listening encouragement this video clip produced by Judge Andrew Napolitano on the wisdom of the framers of the Constitution in how they envisioned the relationship between the states and the new proposed federal government: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhQ-iq8n4xU
I realize that this week’s essay is a far cry from my previous ones, but I felt that it was important to not just write about what our founders intended and how our current crop of fascist leaders are destroying our liberties and rights, but also to show that there are places where the flames of hope – true hope, not the hollow and hyped “hope and change” of President Obama – flicker. It is of utmost importance that we do all that we can to fan these flames from a mere flickering of a candle to a raging forest fire that will sweep the refuse and useless underbrush out of the seats of power at all levels of government, and to do this we – the people – must rise up and reassert our power over our elected officials and lend our support to any and all of our fellow citizens who will take a stand against the entrenched professional political establishment. I fear that Ms. Medina does not stand a good chance at winning her election as the establishment of both the media and state party are against her, but we must heed this warning of admonition sounded by the renowned economist and political philosopher, F.A. Hayek in the 1956 forward to the American edition of his classic work, The Road to Serfdom:
“…the most important change which extensive government control produces is a psychological change, an alteration in the character of the people. This is necessarily a slow affair, a process which extends not over a few years but perhaps over one or two generations. The important point is that the political ideals of a people and its attitude toward authority are as much the effect as the cause of the political institution under which it lives. This means, among other things, that even a strong tradition of political liberty is no safeguard if the danger is precisely that new institutions and policies will gradually undermine and destroy that spirit. The consequences can of course be averted if that spirit reasserts itself in time and the people not only throw out the party which has been leading them further and further in the dangerous direction but also recognize the nature of the danger and resolutely change their course.“ [emphasis mine - Epaminondas]
So I urge you, whatever state, city or county in which you may reside, to seek out those who will take such a stand on any level of government and lend them your support so that we the people can once again be recognized as those who hold the reins of power in this country and not the perennial politicians in the various state capitals, city halls and yes, especially in Washington, DC. Those of you who regularly read my posts I know are aware of the dangerous path down which our country is treading, and so we must as Hayek stated, resolutely work to change our nation’s course before the spirit of political and individual liberty among our fellow citizens is crushed and lost forever and the opportunity for reversing our slide into totalitarianism disappears.
-Epaminondas
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