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Chaos has once again engulfed our country.
Along with the rioting and looting in major cities, smaller cities like Kenosha, Wisconsin, have devolved into unrest, and there are even protests making their way into the suburbs.
Businesses have been destroyed, residents have been beaten, and people have died.
If the Founders were alive today, what would they say about the angry mobs overrunning America's cities?
We already know what George Washington would have said. In his famous Farewell Address, our first president and hero of the War for Independence spoke out against the temptation to enact change through violence and "usurpation":
"If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.”
Washington was referring to constitutional changes at the federal level, but his words still apply to those seeking change at the state and local levels.
Our Founders instituted a federalist system in our Constitution that provides a peaceful, political avenue for self-government. If the people of Wisconsin want to change their laws, they have a way to do it via the people's representatives in the state legislature.
That change might take time, but it's the only way to ensure that the voices of the people -- all the people -- are heard and represented. Otherwise, as the rioters and looters hope, change will take place not via self-government but via the threat of violence from an angry, lawless minority.
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