We’ve been patient, I think. We’ve been doing our own thing, minding our own business and wanting the nation to become a better place for our children to grow up in. Unfortunately, the people we trusted to guide and shape that better Nation have let us down. Not only have they let us down, but they’ve driven the United States to the brink of implosion.
What then, are we to do? If we do nothing, we will surely continue down the path of uncertainty, where violence, destruction, intimidation, and government interference are the answers to everything; where free speech is stifled because it’s not woke enough for the day or doesn’t align with the mob in front of you; where entire groups of people are being held accountable for past transgressions of their heredity; where people are judged not by who they are, but what they are.
Where does it end? When will it be enough? When will things be ‘right’? Who’s judging? Who’s enforcing and how?
Human is human–period. When we divide the citizen’s into groups and classes and segregate others, we are creating the problems we’re trying to eliminate. Stop–just stop. Enough is enough. Human is human.
If we look at the Constitution of the United States, the charter for this great Union of States, we find our answers. We find that the federal government was formed for a very few and specific reasons. The amendments of the Constitution spell these out, first and foremost to protect the people from the government. That’s free speech and the sharing of ideas. That’s the right to defend yourself from your government and others that would infringe on your liberty. That’s the right to be free from self-incrimination and unreasonable searches.
A nation of laws, not men–this is how we started over two-hundred years ago. We were warned shortly after the formation of the Constitution. It’s said that Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government had been formed, and his response was, “A republic if you can keep it.” The problem today is we’re not keeping it. An informed and active involvement by citizens is needed to keep the Constitutional Republic alive and healthy. Our government was formed to protect one. One citizen. Not a class of citizens, not a wealthy citizen, and certainly not a governmental official ‘citizen’. One person is all it should take in the eyes of the law to stand up and say enough, not today. The Constitution will never be perfect–the framers knew this. There is a process to amend the Constitution, and it has been done many times–correcting and shaping laws that were not clear and correct originally.
I don’t have the answers. In fact, I’m in over my head putting my name on the ballot. However, at this point I feel I need to make my opinion known, and in fact, I don’t think this is just my opinion–I believe this is the way many, many citizens feel and think. We have been taken advantage of due to our silence and compliance. We have been led down a path to divisive blind parties that are unwilling to listen and learn from each other because they’re from the wrong party or wearing the wrong colored shirt.
Are there things this country can do better? Yes. That’s the short answer. The long answer is extremely difficult to discuss, let alone fix, with the limited resources we have. Let’s start with personal responsibility. My belief is that as long as you’re not hurting anyone or taking they’re stuff (Matt Kibbe, Don’t Hurt People, and Don’t Take Their Stuff–A Libertarian Manifesto, 2015), go for it. But with that comes personal responsibility. Let’s say you choose to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. You get into an accident and end up with a devastating traumatic brain injury (TBI). You chose to ride without a helmet, without insurance, without adequate cash in the bank to pay for your hospital bills and your total patient care for the rest of your life. You freely chose to get into this situation, but are now hurting others by taking their stuff to sustain your life, by being a burden on the tax-paying people. This of course will lead into the discussion of Single Payer Healthcare / Universal Healthcare / Healthcare as a Right. Currently, none of those exist, and there is no provision in the constitution for anything close to this, and there shouldn’t be. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be some kind of a safety net to help the less fortunate, but it should not be the go-to right of every citizen to be responsible for every other citizen’s poor decision-making.
How do we get from where we are now, to a place where personal responsibility and freedom take precedence over one person taking from another through government taxes in order to pay for people’s decisions? I don’t have the map, I don’t have the answer. I do know that it will be a process, and I know it needs to start now. The silent majority, the population that just wants to be left alone and to live freely, needs to start being vocal, silent no more.
This is why my name will be on the ballot. I cannot let the country continue down this path without attempting to be a part of the solution. I want to be able to look my children and grandchildren in the eyes and tell them I tried. I tried to stop this train wreck. I tried to keep their lives free. I want them to have a choice, a choice to be whoever and whatever they want. This is how I choose to fight this fight right now.
My name is Robert Werch, and I’m running for the office of Representative to the United States Congress, Oregon, District 2.
robertwerch.com