Broken People

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It seems that I have paid attention to politics all of my life. By that I mean I don't really have a memory of a moment in my life that I decided it was important and I should pay attention. Perhaps this is due to my mother, Julia Rodebush, having such a strong opinion about things in our country. My mother as her mother, Margaret Conklin, was a Republican most if not all of her life. My father Loren Rodebush, was a conservative democrat who switched parties to vote for Ronald Reagan and remained a Republican the rest of his days. There were a few Democrats in local elections that we voted for in the 80's but after that there seemed to be no more real conservatives in the Democrat party. This background is simply to give you a window into where I come from politically. As a God-fearing military brat, hard working Southerner, believer in freedom and Liberty and staunch opponent of centralized government epitomized by communism; my entire life I have been engaged to some extent in thinking about philosophy, politics and human nature.

In my many discussions over the years there is a theme that crosses all political spectrums, all demographics and most philisophical leanings; and it is completely wrong. Such is the challenge of protecting a constitutional republic from the inherently politically ignorant and selfish electorate. The theme of which I speak is, "The system is broken." This meme encapsulates the political ignorance of the modern American people. The entire reason our system was set up by the Founders the way it was, with power to the central government severely limited and the rights of the People paramount; is that the natural state of Man is selfish and corruptible. This fact always seems to get lost in the ridiculous way in which our press discusses politics. We the People allow this to continue by participating in this skewed political discourse.

The truth is that the system is as close to perfect as any devised on this earth. The truth is that this system has lead to the greatest exportation of freedom and prosperity in the history of Mankind. The truth is that the system is not broken; the People are. Just as our Founders discussed ad nauseum, People are flawed and will take advantage of power. People are selfish and will demand more hand-outs if given them. People will raid the Treasury if they are not closely monitored and jailed for any malfeasance. People are fallible and therefore no undue power should ever be given away to individuals far away from the source of it's impact. Local power, local control and local independence is how we can best watch our leaders closely and chastise and punish them for infringing on our rights. This is the system. And there is not a damn thing wrong with it.

The People are broken and must recognize this as the natural state of Man and therefore demand that no government official should have a say in what we do in our daily lives. The purpose of the government is to protect the individual rights of the people FROM government. This leads to freedom and prosperity. Allowing government to demand, subsidize or punish daily behavior in the pursuit of happiness leads to tyranny, degradation of the economy and chaos. Every time we re-elect an individual who even one time strays from his/her Constitutional duty, we encourage broken people to tear down our beautiful system and we ourselves become broken. Never entrust your precious vote, paid for by the blood and treasure of countless American patriots, to the election of broken people. Constitutional conservatives who firmly believe in the protection of our Liberty above all else are the only persons who deserve your precious support. To do otherwise is just...BROKEN!

by: Keith D. Rodebush