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The future is in the hands of the voters

Contributed by: Stan Dyer on 8/29/2007

Just about anyone who has lived long enough to own a good amount of personal history begins to notice the peculiar way things change. With the passage of time, what once seemed undeniably confirmed and written in stone, begins to take on a different, almost opposite, appearance. For proof, consider how styles and preferences change. The transformation does not always need a great deal of time to occur, and, many times, it happens to us without our even being aware anything is going on. It happened again here recently, and exposed a paradox in American Politics.

Readers who have been keeping up with the quest to contact elected officials and presidential candidates in preview of the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election will remember an article on Jackson Grimes, the presidential candidate of The United Fascist Union. At first, Mr. Grimes seemed odd, confused and "scary", talking about Mussolini, Hitler and dictatorship as if those were good things. Now, however, in a strange, paradoxical turn of events, it seems the only real differences between his reality and that of many Americans, (including politicians), is the way he chooses to express himself and the people he chooses to exemplify.

Mr. Grimes is one of only two people of politics so far to receive one of my letters and not be afraid to respond, (the other was a Florida presidential candidate who wanted clarification of my "vague" question about Democracy and Human Rights). We exchanged a number of letters, and Mr. Grimes began to show his true colors. He is not as radical and different as he believes. Like so many Americans, he is just frustrated with how our American democracy misrepresents its people and denies the wishes of the majority.

Can you call it Representative Democracy when people elected to political office use that office to represent their own personal interests instead of the interests of the majority of the people? We elect our representatives to represent our interests, not their own. We may not all agree and we may not all like the results, but majority rule is basic to true democracy. When representatives supersede this and begin to represent personal interests, they create Oligarchy, or "rule by a few", and that is what angers many Americans. Oligarchy is just a short walk from Dictatorship and the radical solution proposed by Jack Grimes.

With all due respect, Jack Grimes, feeling the same anger and frustration felt by others, at least had the courage to stand up, to do something, to say something and to speak out against the deteriorating situation he and others perceive taking place in Washington, D.C. and around the country. He is not new to the scene. This is his third run at the Presidency. While most other people just complain, commiserate around the water cooler, or shrug their shoulders and forget about it, Grimes is out fighting obscurity and that Wicked Witch of public opinion all along the Yellow Brick Road to the White House. You have to admire a person, no matter how unusual, who has the courage to stand up and shout, "Hey, what's going on here?" For the most part, that is what Mr. Grimes does. He may do it using his own ideas and his own solutions taken from historic sources, but people who listen, (even if they don't agree with the Grimes' Solution), will begin to see that he is right at least about the problem. In that respect, he is little different from Samuel Adams who turned a deadly, 1770 "snowball" fight into the Boston Massacre. That, too, was scary, but now it is just history. Jack Grimes speaks from that same spirit of freedom that created this country. Remember, not everyone in 18 th century America was for angering King George, and those who did oppose British rule also seemed radical and unusual. That should scare no one. What should scare us now are the many powerful, respected, elected politicians with weak understanding of the United States Constitution.

No educated American who has read the document can deny the Constitution was written with assistance from those who listed among their personal property the lives of other human beings. That document, the Supreme Law of the Land, denied basic human rights to a majority, gave its assent to continued slavery and, in effect, did not create a true democracy. If you need proof, research the drafting of the original Constitution to see which states the writers came from, keeping in mind that Virginia was a slave state. For further proof, read Article I, Section 2, Paragraph three on determining State's representation. Also, read the same section's Article 9 on the Migration and Importation of "such Persons". There is more, but that is enough for any common person to see that the concepts of Democracy and Human Rights were somewhat distorted in the eyes of the founding fathers. The founding fathers were on the right track and this was the first Modern Democracy, a "Great Experiment", but, over 218 years since, should we be closer to true democracy than we are? There pops up the paradox. The concrete has become abstract.

A few weeks ago, Jack Grimes scared a number of us with his talk of radical change. Now, it seems he is just speaking for the soul of democracy, albeit using the wrong tone and the wrong role models. Today, the people who seem scary are the Wayne Allards and Bill Ritters in government who think their own ideas, their own agendas and their own politics are better and more important than the wishes of the people they represent. In some ways, that is worse than Fascism, and not far from dictatorship. They are the new Federalists, and if that paradox does not scare you, it should.

This is just an opinion, but it rings of truth and holds a lesson for us all. We, the people, should never assume too much, we should never take our politics for granted, and we should never let go of any of our freedoms. We should, however, be aware of what is taking place in government, we should know as much about our candidates as possible, and we should require our representatives to represent the wishes of the majority. If we do not, we may not notice the next paradox sneaking up on us until it is too late to cast our votes. Ultimately, the future is in the hands of the voters.


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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
Submitted By: Gladys Mercier
posted on 9/1/2007 @ 7:08:11 PM
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America is a republic that has slowly become a democracy. Many people feel it is useless to vote since nothing seems to change but we must keep voting and know what we are voting for.
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Submitted By: Michael Rule
posted on 8/31/2007 @ 2:59:40 PM
Rated Story
That would be the headstone, not Adolf.
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Submitted By: Michael Rule
posted on 8/31/2007 @ 2:58:41 PM
Rated Story
Well done, Stan. But your picture gives me the creeps, and I don't go with the simplistic argument that "no educated American" would dare disagree with you. Still, good food for thought.
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Submitted By: Joan-Marie Reed
posted on 8/29/2007 @ 7:54:26 PM
Rated Story
Once again, you have opened my eyes to new ideas. Keep writing, Stan. I appreciate your research and thought-provoking concepts. You make me think outside my comfort zone.
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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Stan Dyer

Arvada , CO

Stan Dyer has posted 916 stories and 113 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Stan Dyer 's average story rating is 4.35.
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