Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer
The United States has ceased to be a constitutional republic. Our country was established by the adoption of a constitution that is no longer in force in any real way. Our social structures are failing; our foreign policy is an embarrassment; our financial institutions are a giant Ponzi scheme. Since the end of the first world war our country and its commitment to the rule of law has been getting progressively weaker, but at a slow rate and for such a long time that few thought to do anything about it. But now, as the poet says, “The times, they are a’changin.” There has been a lot of talk about the need to restore the republic and force the federal government back within the boundaries created for it under law by the Constitution. But if you consider for a moment precisely what it is going to take to do that, your jaw should drop and your eyes should open wide.
If you want to live in a constitutional republic the way our founders did, you have to be willing to be a small “r” republican. What does it that mean? It means to be willing to think like Michael Collins and the other Irish republicans who fought against tyrannical British rule for centuries. Willing to be like the Italian republican Giuseppe Garibaldi who fought to establish an Italian free state, or the Marquis de Lafayette who took command of the National Guard while his fellow citizens stormed the French Bastille. It means to be willing to think and act as the American republicans who fought the revolution in 1776. We are the fathers and mothers of those who will fight the next revolution, if in fact we do not wind up fighting it ourselves. If you want a constitutional republic where the people are governed by the rule of law and not the rule of men, where you can say and do what you want, and keep the money that you earn, you have to first be ready and willing to establish and maintain such a republic at any cost.
A small “r” republican, I am also a capital “R” Republican, who along with others work within that party to return it to some semblance of its former glory. Some say that the Republican Party can no longer be known as the party of “NO”. I think that what we need is to become is the party of “HELL NO.” We are engaged in a bitter conflict against socialists on one side and imperialists on the other who have invaded our ranks over the past four decades. We refuse to abandon our party because we believe that rank and file Republicans still desire small government, lower taxes, a modest and friendly foreign policy, and liberty, above all liberty. Some criticize us for encouraging our Libertarian brothers and sisters to return to the fold, as if believing in Liberty and laissez-faire capitalism was wrong. I tell you, I would rather that we swell the party’s ranks with former Libertarians than continue to elect tax and spend socialists who only pretend to be Republicans so that they can steal our money. Yes, those who tax us unjustly, who continue to tout social programs and demand that we pay for them, those who burden us and our children with impossible debt in order to buy voters to reelect them are thieves and should dealt with as such. When the members of the government cease to obey the written laws, especially the Constitution or city charter under which they were elected, they cease to be public servants and become public enemies. We must diligently work to obstruct the activities of those who would replace the republic with a socialist, centrally planned state with the same vigor that we would obstruct the robber who was attempting to slit our throats. Come and join us!
How shall we begin? We must begin by securing Duval County, our home. We must defeat the socialists masquerading as Republicans and run them out of City government before we can hope to run them out of Tallahassee and out of Washington, D.C. We must raise our voices at every opportunity to ensure that taxes in Duval County are not raised, that non-essential programs are eliminated, that unnecessary buildings and highways are not built, and that laws that restrict our liberty are repealed. We must try to convince our neighbors that it is better to be poor and free than to receive government services and be enslaved. We must convince them not to take the money the government has stolen from their fellow citizens. Finally, we must ensure that our Sheriff secures and protects the interests of the voters who elected him before protecting those of the federal government and the Department of Homeland Security. In short, we must begin to resist tyranny wherever we encounter it, and encourage liberty whenever the opportunity arises. If we do not begin our political activity today, we may wind up having to defend our liberty by force of arms tomorrow.
Independence Day is coming. Are you an American? Will you live free or die?
