Self-Governance

In a Democracy, the majority rules. This gives voters the most power over their laws. The voters establish the laws and are in control of the government.  In a Democracy, whatever the voters approve becomes law and the government implements and enforces the law until it is changed by the voters. The Founders of the US rejected this model to avoid sovereign bankruptcy of the welfare state or domination of one religion over another. There was also the problem of size and communication.

In 1789, the US original 13 colonies occupied 360,000 square miles from Maine to the Florida border. Travel on horseback took days and weeks and there was no telegraph.

In a Republic, voters elect “representatives” to vote in concert with their views. By 1789, the colonies already had 170 years to develop their own economy and it resisted government intrusion, so the choice was a Republic with a very limited federal government.  States continued to elect State legislatures and they were inclined to limit their power to avoid interfering with the free market economy their family businesses relied on.

We now have a “Republic” where elected officials rely in special interest donations to continue to be elected. The campaign to get votes from the voters, but after they are elected they govern according to the wishes of the special interests. 

We now have the technology that would allow voters to vote on laws via the internet, but the political establishment doesn’t dare suggest that we improve voter input.  They would also resist restricting campaign contributions to registered voters for candidates who would appear on their ballot.  They would certainly object to voter suggestions that they follow the US Constitution (as written). They have no good arguments against these reforms, so they pretend the need for these reforms don’t exist.  Instead, they rely on a steady stream of special interest tabloid news to distract us.

Dealing with living in our Republic would be easier if our federal elected officials would follow the US Constitution and if our State elected officials felt some well-directed heat from the voters.

But we are always free to vote with our feet and choose who we associate with, but many of us choose to stay where we are and adapt.

I was born in St. Louis Missouri. When I was age 2 we moved to Hallettsville Texas, Providence Rhode Island, Memphis Tennessee and Queens NY. When I was 8 years old I moved back to St. Louis Missouri. St. Louis was an ideal place to grow up. It was well laid out and there were lots of things to do. My grandparents lived there and so did most of my aunts, uncles and cousins. St. Louis is a blue collar town and Missouri is not a Right to Work State, so there were lots of union members and Democrats. My family was conservative, wealthy, Republican and Catholic and all attended Catholic schools. St. Louis Catholics were mostly conservative. We were insular. We were advised not to discuss religion or politics.

When we moved to Salina, Kansas in 1975, I felt the most comfortable as a conservative. It was a very conservative town in a mostly conservative State. I moved there to take a great job, not to vote with my feet to flee union country, but I felt free to express my conservatism in the articles I wrote for Kansas Business News and the Salina Journal.

When we moved to Atlanta Georgia in 1983 I met Andrew Young and knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Atlanta was divided politically, but Ronald Reagan was their choice for President and the electronics revolution was booming. Factions co-existed separately. There were multiple subcultures operating with rich and poor Black Cultures and Southern Culture separate but equal. There were also Northeasterners and Midwesterners pouring in to Atlanta. The Gay subculture was beginning to grow. All of these groups glommed together in separate parts of Atlanta.  They were definitely voting with their feet to stay together.

My experience living in other States was an advantage to me. I had lived in the Midwest, the South and the Northeast and saw the vast cultural diversity, but I wasn’t anywhere long enough to permanently adopt the accents I was exposed to. I could, however, adopt these accents whenever I wanted to be entertaining. I saw lots of sub-cultures.

In my travels to Europe, Asia and South America and my experiences with people who came to the US from other countries, I saw our similarities and our differences. I believe we are likely to keep both. We are creatures of our upbringing and we will be comfortable with those who allow us to keep our similarities and our differences. But we conservatives will fight to restore compliance with our original US Constitution, because the alternative is sovereign bankruptcy.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader