Michael Smith:

Happy 84/76 Day!

Today is the day we get to choose between a future path to Orwell’s 1984 world or the 1776 world of the Founding Fathers.

Will we choose wisely? I hope so, but many think a vote for Harris and Tampon Timmy is a vote for something they have been told is called “democracy.”

H.L. Mencken said:

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

This nation is not a pure democracy, America is a representative, constitutional Republic and it is so for a reason.

The contemporary idea that liberty and democracy exist in equal measures, as democracy increases, so does liberty and vice versa, simply does not hold water because democracy is mob rule, rule by popular opinion, something even our Constitution couldn’t prevent. By and large, the powers we have allowed our post millennium, twenty-first century “democratic” government are those the Americans colonists of 1776 escaped through revolt.

In his 2019 book, Liberty in Peril, Randall Holcombe, American economist, and the DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University, challenged that perception, writing:

“The principle of liberty suggests that first and foremost, the government’s role is to protect the rights of individuals. The principle of democracy suggests that collective decisions are made according to the will of the majority…The greater the allowable scope of democracy in government, the greater the threat to liberty…In particular, the ascendency of the concept of democracy threatens the survival of the free market economy, which is an extension of the Founders’ views on liberty.”

Holcombe argues this is reflected in the changing nature of elections.

“At one time, elections might have been viewed as a method of selecting competent people to undertake a job with constitutionally specified limits. With the extension of democracy, elections became referendums on public policy.”

We know that men are created equal, but all policies are not. Some policies reduce the influence of government in our lives, others increase it. The candidate seeking to reduce government influence fits the definition of the competent person fighting to “protect the rights of individuals” and understands “the biggest threat to individual liberty” is the government.

This is America’s perpetual challenge. In Federalist 51, James Madison explained the problem succinctly:

“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

The concept of America that Kamala Harris has been told she has is the same as the view of the old Soviet Union – the government should control everything, that not only will the populace be taught 2+2=5, but they will also be forced to believe that it is.

Remember that the USSR had “democratic” elections (spoiler alert, the choices of the Communist Party always won by 95% or better) and a constitution (which never stopped the government from doing what it wanted). She claims to know how to marry the contradictory goals of equity and unity, which can only be joined by force, for to pursue equity means government will choose winners and losers, and you can bet your sweet bippy that the feelings of entitlement of the winners will grow and the losers aren’t going to be happy about that.

It is my hope on this 84/76 day that Spirit of 1776 wins.

If you haven’t already, get out and vote.