Downfall Pt 4

Part 4


Before I go any further I would like to ask some simple questions. Answer honestly, nobody but you will see your answers. Then think about how you answered and decide if you are doing your part as citizens of this Republican form of government we live under.

1. Do you know who your elected officials are, (President, Senators, Congressman, Governor, State legislators)?
2. Do you know how to contact them?
3. Have you ever contacted them?
4. Do you vote in every election, including primaries?
5. Do you pay attention to how your elected officials vote on issues that effect you?

The more 'no' answers you got, the more you are part of the problem. Unless you are oblivious to all the problems this country is facing you should be writing or calling your elected officials often. If you don't like the way they respond to your concerns, then you have the responsibility to let them know how you feel at the election booth.

With the dismal numbers of registered voters who show up to vote you are not alone in sharing the blame. I vote in every election since I registered to vote back in 1976 I have a very large stack of letters which I have written to everyone who needs my vote to stay in office. I also have every reply from them.

I monitor their votes on every issue that I find important. You can do this too if you want. Go to govtrack. There you can sign up to follow individual members of Congress or the status of legislation and who voted for/against it, as well as the speeches they give on the floor of Congress.

That is the first step, keeping informed on what they are doing and voting them out of office if you don't agree with how they are representing you.

Daniel Webster said;
"Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government"

Can you, with all honesty, say that you are as attentive to the concerns of your government as you should be? I would like you to read a few more quotes before I continue.

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government--lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.
Patrick Henry

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
James Madison

Wise men that refuse to participate in the affairs of government are punished by having to live under the rule of fools.
Plato

It was by the sober sense of our citizens that we were safely and steadily conducted from monarchy to republicanism, and it is by the same agency alone we can be kept from falling back.
Thomas Jefferson




So, do you think you are well informed? Do you think you really know everything your elected officials are doing? If you contact them do you think they hear your voice and care about your wishes? Do you think they uphold their oath of office to uphold the Constitution?

You might answer yes to some of those questions, but by the time you read this entire series of papers you will probably be thinking something entirely different. That is if you truly care about the direction this country is taking.