By Rick Manning

What happens to a government when the consent of the governed breaks down?  History has many instances of this some ending with peaceful transformation, others with successful revolution as in our own history and still others with military crackdowns as we currently see in Hong Kong.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, which was written as a series of reasons why the American colonists no longer accepted the rule of King George III.  The opening two paragraphs of this seminal document used to be memorized by school children as part of their school exercises, a practice which was largely abandoned in the 1960s. So as a refresher, here is what Jefferson penned:

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

Paying particular attention to the second paragraph, our nation’s founding was based upon the idea, “That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Right now, at this point in American history, many state governments are teetering on the edge of losing the consent of the governed with the economic lockdowns which have not only crippled our medical and economic systems, but are creating a quiet desperation among many of our people as they  attempt to survive the isolation imposed by draconian stay home orders.

This past Memorial Day weekend, we witnessed rallies, church services and people gathering at beaches, boardwalks, rivers and other recreational gathering places, simple acts of defiance exemplified by the decision of many to not wear a mask.

Some governors and mayors continue to believe that they can ratchet up demands for acquiescence and the people will comply, and in some areas like New York City, which due to the blunders of their failed leaders, has experienced the brunt of the nation’s death toll, many of their people continue to obey.  But across much of America, the government better get out of the way before they lose their legitimacy and the people just ignore their edicts en masse. 

Once the consent of the governed has been lost, it is very difficult to regain. Fortunately, in the United States, we have a history of fair and free elections to serve as a pressure relief valve.

Elections are the ultimate gauge of the consent of the governed, and this is why all Americans should be very concerned about efforts by the totalitarian party to undo the one-person-one-vote principle through ending state voter identification requirements and mandating mail-in balloting.  According to RealClearPolitics reporting, federal Election Assistance Commission data since 2012 shows “that nearly one in five of all absentee ballots and ballots mailed to voters residing in states that do elections exclusively by mail” have gone missing.

This amounts to more than 28 million ballots. 

Now critics of this analysis argue that many of these lost ballots were deliberately not cast by those who received them and certainly in some cases that is true.  However, in last months virtually all mail-in election in Wisconsin, in just one mail processing center, three tubs of mailed-in ballots were discovered with no postmark, uncounted. 

In 2018, Broward County, Florida police found a bin marked “provisional ballots” with unmarked ballots in the trunk of an Avis rental car. Apparently, the notoriously weak ballot security in this Democratic Party stronghold includes letting live ballots float around to be cast or not cast by anyone who might have possession of them.

Consent of the governed demands that the people believe that elections are honest. And in a time when states like California utilize a system for ballot collection which has been determined by other states to be fraught with fraud potential, the sense that we have free and fair elections has never been more under legitimate attack.

Law-abiding Americans are taking to the streets in mass civil disobedience to pandemic shutdown edicts in much of our nation.  The shutdown has created unprecedented unemployment, increased suicides and the inhumanity of not being able to be with our loved ones during their most vulnerable last hours of life in the hospital. 

The Senate should reject the left’s attempt to change our election systems at this critical moment, making them less secure than ever.  One only needs to remember the year 2000, when George W. Bush won Florida and hence the election by under 600 votes out of more than 6 million cast to understand that we cannot have our elections decided by a single post office failing to deliver marked ballots, or worse by an entrepreneurial political party gathering and casting ballots for unsuspecting voters. 

Our nation is at a tipping point, and if we lose the consensus that the consent of the governed is honestly represented at the ballot box, the results will be tragic with the end being the likely fall of the United States of America as we know it.

Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.

To view online: http://dailytorch.com/2020/05/are-states-that-refuse-to-reopen-losing-the-consent-of-the-governed/

Video: Maryland swim coach staying afloat though his Democratic county staying shutdown

 

To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Oy-rPwyEc

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New poll shows who’s optimistic and who’s not about coronavirus recovery

By Market Research Foundation

The latest NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist Poll shows which groups are optimistic and pessimistic about the economic recovery. There is broad consensus among 65% of Americans who think a return to normal life after coronavirus will take six months or more. A small minority (32%) believe their lives will return to normal within six months.

A split is emerging based on party, gender, race, income, education level, and geographic lines. Democrats, women, African Americans, higher income groups and higher educated groups, suburban and urban dwellers, and those in the West show higher levels of pessimism about a rapid return to normal life.

Conversely, Republicans, men, Hispanics, lower income and lower-educated groups, rural residents, and those in the Northeast show higher levels of optimism about a rapid return to normal life. Hispanics’ higher optimism about the recovery, in-line with President Trump’s, could reduce already weak Hispanic support for Joe Biden.

Majorities in all groups think return to normal will take longer than six months, but Republicans are more optimistic

Political party shows one of the widest splits between Americans who believe the recovery will be greater or less than six months. As shown below, a full 78% of Democrats think recovery will take more than six months, versus 55% of Republicans and 68% of Independents.

There is also a modest gender gap between those optimistic and pessimistic about recovery, with 68% of women stating a return to normal will be greater than six months compared to 62% of men.

College-educated women show the lowest optimism while no-college women show the highest. Seventy-percent of college educated women say a return to normal will take more than six months compared to 68% of college educated men. Sixty-four percent of no-college females and 66% of no college males say recovery will take more than six months.

Higher education and higher income Americans are more pessimistic about a return to normal

While majorities in all groups think recovery will be slow, higher-educated and higher-income Americans are more pessimistic about the time it will take to return to normal. As shown below, lower income and educated groups are more optimistic compared to their higher income and higher-educated counterparts.

There are also divisions between Americans on the East and West coasts, and those from urban, suburban, and small-town locations. While majorities across the country believe recovery will take more than six months, 38% of North Easterners and 33% of Southerners think recovery will take less than six months. Westerners have the bleakest outlook, with just 26% saying they think life will return to normal within six months, followed by 29% of Midwesterners.

Almost 70% of big-city dwellers think recovery will take more than six months, but only 60% of rural residents think so.  Sixty-six percent of small-town dwellers, 65% of suburbanites, and 62% of small-city dwellers think recovery will take more than six months.

Hispanics are more optimistic about recovery, African Americans less

Another split emerges along racial lines, with Hispanics showing significantly higher levels of optimism than either Whites or African Americans. As shown below, Hispanics are close to twice as likely as African Americans to expect a return to normal in less than six months.

The majority of Americans across political, socioeconomic, and geographic variables believe a return to normal life will be slow, but there are distinct variations across the country and across demographic groups. Is the relative optimism of lower educated and lower income Americans from rural regions misplaced, or were these groups more prepared to weather the shutdown than wealthier urban and suburban dwellers? Why are Hispanics so optimistic compared to other groups? More research is needed to understand how the coronavirus has impacted Americans differently, and address needs at the state and local level.

To view online: https://marketresearchfoundation.org/2020/05/25/new-poll-shows-whos-optimistic-and-whos-not-about-coronavirus-recovery/

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Why are Democrats ‘dreading’ an economic recovery from the COVID-19 depression?

May 26, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to a Politico story with a former Obama official saying “This is my big worry… It’s high — high, high, high, high” that the economy will begin a rapid recovery from the COVID-19 depression before the election in November:

“If there was ever any doubt why Americans should reject the tyrannical socialist party from ever holding power again, it is revealed in a Politico story chronicling how Democrats and those close to Obama are worried that America will recover too rapidly from the government induced depression. Incredibly, Team Obama are actually rooting against more than 30 million Americans finding a job and restarting their lives and being able to chase their dreams as the shutdowns end around the country.  Team Obama actively is celebrating empty store fronts, corporate bankruptcies and the harm done to our nation’s tourism industry and all those who work at hotels, rental car agencies, airlines, taxis, and entertainment facilities.  And Team Obama fears that America will get back to work, because it might help President Trump’s re-election bid. 

“It is beyond disgusting that the quest for power so overrides every consideration that the left would rather have tens of millions of Americans unemployed and dependent upon the largesse they hand out, than to see the economy rebound from this unprecedented Chinese-originated virus driven unemployment catastrophe. Words suitable for print are not available to convey how any right thinking American must feel when confronted by the reality that the dreams of 30 million people are seen as little more than a necessary price to pay in order to gain power and push their big government agenda.”

To view online: https://getliberty.org/2020/05/why-are-democrats-dreading-an-economic-recovery-from-the-covid-19-depression/

 

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