Notable Quote - Prof. David Corbin & Matt Parks - Granite Grok

Notable Quote – Prof. David Corbin & Matt Parks

From a longer piece at The Federalist (go read the whole thing, emphasis here is mine):

…Americans, Madison argues, are natural republicans–republicans in their heads and in their hearts, determined to show the world that “self-government” is possible. The republican principle, as Madison defines it later in the essay, requires “a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.” That is to say, republican government is responsible to the people, from whom it ultimately “derives all its power” and to whom it must directly or indirectly give an account of its stewardship of those powers.

On this point, at least, there is no daylight between the positions of the 1960s-style liberal Robert Kennedy and the 1780s-style liberal James Madison. In both accounts, the people are primary; the government is secondary–a necessary help supporting self-governing citizens, in both the political and moral senses of the term.

Today, the Progressives leap from responsible government to  a responsive government in which government is the main actor in the American play. Their efforts obstruct if not eliminate opportunities for moral self-government, leaving the citizenry playing the role of a supporting cast at best, and a prop at worst. Or rather leaving some citizens–the allies of the Progressive city managers–to be the nursemaids and taskmasters of their less enlightened neighbors, while others, feeding at the crony capitalist trough, can afford to be above it all…

– Prof. David Corbin & Matt Parks

Just in case it was not clear, self-government is NOT just the democracy we practice in our small towns, our counties, or in our Constitutional Republics of our States and our nation.  Self-governance is exactly that – governance of one’s own being, deciding what is right and wrong, actionable and that to be left alone.  In the Progressive world view, those do not exist but in one plane: that of obedience.  Self governance / self-government is that space in which we decide our behavior and actions – that space that was so valued by our Founders – and which Progressives wish to eliminate in their ever so incremental pace.  The Federalists post talks about NYC Mayor De Blasio’s philosophy of government where Government is so close to its citizens, there is no room for the citizens at all.

Family, friends, and neighborhoods are no longer to be viewed as the “first responders” when help is needed even as De Toqueville praised as being THE strength of the American people.  Instead, a paid cadre from an activist political entity is to rush in almost before help is needed (and think of all that entails in order to do just that).  Indeed, De Blasio is proving my oft repeated phrase The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen – as the Leviathan increases in size, in scope, and in intrusiveness all under the banner of “helping”, the soft cocoon of soft despotism and tyranny will fall around our physical shoulders, restricting our actions and around our internal beings, restricting our thoughts.  It takes that all away from the Individual need, reducing the Spirit of achievement.  Need something?  Call 411.  Have a problem? call 511.  Have an emergency? Call 911.  Email your local representative, your city councilor, your Mayor.  Father, Mother, uncles, aunts, family members, close friends – they’re not needed (or as Progressives would admit if waterboarded, not wanted) as long as you have Govt Daddy at the ready to take care of everything you need.  All you have to do is pay for it (and the cost will be much higher than mere taxes).

That is not freedom – it is mere existence.  Self-governance / Self-government also requires not just Freedom and Rights, but Self-Responsibility; the Progressive governance that De Blasio takes that latter leg of the tripod away.

And we all know what happens next.

 

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