The Preamble of the US Constitution starts off with the words “We the People.” President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address spoke of “the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” However, last week I witnessed just how far we have deviated from this fundamental premise of self-governance in the world’s longest-running Constitutional Republic. It was last Thursday evening at Dallas College El Centro campus where I was in the audience for the Dallas Regional Chamber debate on the city of Dallas charter amendments S, T, and U. We have discussed these amendments previously, they are the result of the Dallas Hero initiative citizen-led petitions, and secured a place on the November 2024 election ballot.
The debate was between former US Marine and Executive Director of the Dallas HERO project, Pete Marocco and former Dallas Mayor Tom Lepperts. We wrote a previous missive titled “The Arrogance of Officialdom,” and boy, was it present. embodied by Mayor Lepperts. The rehearsed and over-regurgitated line from Mayor Lepperts was “good intentions, bad results” all through the evening. However, at no time did Mayor Lepperts offer a solution to the ever present issues that face the City of Dallas. Former Mayor Lepperts says that you cannot hold elected officials and city bureaucrats accountable as citizens. You cannot ask for the city to abide by their own laws and mandates. You cannot ask for a minimal level of policing, you should accept the status quo for response times and consider better community engagement.
I do not think better community engagement would have helped the woman recently assaulted by Tren de Aragua gang members in her own home.
There are billboards popping up all over Dallas with the pictures of corrupt and tyrannical politicians like John Wiley Price and Clay Jenkins, members of the Dallas County Commissioners Court, demanding that you do not support the citizens, the people, city charter amendments. Former Mayor Mike Rawlins, who destroyed the Dallas Police pension fund, refers to the citizen charter amendments as “chocolate covered rat poison.” That is what former and current politicians think of “We the People.” Heck, as former Mayor Lepperts stood there on stage ranting, Pete Marocco calmly addressed the audience from the table. I expected him to denigrate the people as “Serfs.”
It was 80 years ago last month that Friedrich Hayek wrote his classic book, “The Road to Serfdom.” The professional political elite class certainly wishes to have the people travel on that road to perdition. And it is not just at the local level. Consider a government that tells you what type of house you can build, car you can drive, food you can eat, appliances you can have, what sex your children should be, and how they will indoctrinate your children. Truthfully, we have a government that believes they have the power to decide who lives, and when you die. The We the People, American citizens, are less important than illegals invading our Republic, or people far away in another country.
It is evident that our Dallas County Republican Party brand, theme, raison d’etre of “Fight Local, Win National” is relevant and pertinent. Today, Monday, October 21, 2024, early voting starts in the Lone Star State, and yes, here in Dallas County we face some challenges with our voting equipment, as I articulate in my latest statement. Regardless, it is our duty as citizens in this Republic to vote, to vote for our lives, liberty, and property (John Locke’s Natural Rights theory, 1689).
Get out and vote early and ensure you get 20 of your friends to the polls. Please, take the time to go down the entire ballot, and especially those of you in the City of Dallas on charter amendments S, T, and U. We have a voters guide that you can take into the voting booth for assistance.
This election does not come down to Republican vs. Democrat, it is about Politicians vs. the People. Politicians want power. The people want principles, policy, and protection of their individual rights. The choices have never been so distinct. Sadly, there are those who are willing to surrender their rights and freedoms to a political class. Vladimir Lenin referred to them as “useful idiots,” I call them mindless lemmings.
The politicians want us on the road to serfdom, it is time that We the People took the exit ramp and recalculated to the Road to Freedom.
Steadfast and Loyal.
This column was posted on Allen West’s Substack
The views expressed in CCNS member articles are not necessarily the views or positions of the entire CCNS. They are the views of the authors, who are members of the CCNS.
