Conservative Infighting

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The subject line of the individual's email read, "Constitution Education."  He's apparently either been reading my Political Pistachio website, or listening to my Constitution Radio broadcast on KMET 1490-AM, and began his email attack on a topic I have been hammering on of late.  We are not a democracy, we are a republic.  Therefore, although voting is important, a republic entails so much more.  As for the "democracy" part, originally, the only direct vote for the people at the federal level was to be for our members of the House of Representatives.  The President and Senate are supposed to be elected through an indirect vote.  The Electoral College protects us against a potentially disastrous National Popular vote method (against the excesses of democracy, as I like to put it), and the 17th Amendment of 1913 eliminated the indirect vote of the Senators by changing it to be a direct vote by the people. . . a move that has proven to be disastrous.  The originally intended dynamics of our American System have been disrupted.  To resolve our problems we now face, it is imperative that we return to that originally intended prescribed manner of running our country.

Most folks are uneducated about why we are not a democracy, and don't understand the importance of the Electoral College, or repealing the 17th Amendment.  Everybody gets caught up in the "We the People" introduction to the Preamble of the United States Constitution, set aside the importance of the States, and envision a revolution of taking back our country that is more like the way they did it during the French Revolution, rather than the intent of using the protection of divine Providence as the founders did as they approached, and moved beyond, the American Revolution.

Trigger-happy conservatives who believe we have no time to turn this around without running out into the streets with guns blazing cry about people like me who believe the foundation of reclaiming the republic must be one based on educating the public.  James Madison told us that, "A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people."  If we don't know how to fix it, guns blazing won't do much in the way of restoring the republic.  We will just be a bunch of uneducated people with control. . . and that always, in history, turns into just another oligarchy.

Democracy is "Mob-Rule," and mob-rule becomes mob-violence.  Democracy is where 51% can vote away the rights of the other 49%.  Majority rule can be a dangerous thing.  Understand, only 3% of the American Revolution generation actually fought in the war, and only a third of the country supported the effort for independence.  If the revolutionaries are also uninformed, and have not been educated on the basic principles of good government, the result of "taking back the country" will be disastrous, and could elevate into leadership something worse than we are already dealing with, now.

A gentleman named Randy, who concludes his email with the title "constitutionalist", wrote me a critical rant challenging what I do, and questioning my "activities" as a constitutionalist.  Here's what he wrote:

"Democracy is 'mob-rule''". But it is also people voting in republics (also known as representative democracy) for their representatives. Demos = people. But is "educating" the people on this and other political matters going to fix our nation?  About 60% of people vote. Of them, most vote for the candidates of their party. Most of those voters who are left are swing voters and most of them vote based on Name Fame (name recognition, conformity, herd instinct). This is why famous people win elections - Arnold, Donald, Jessie ......). The rest of the voters (about 4%) vote based on "education". Therefore, "educating" the masses of asses is a waste of time. And when will you be ready to act on your information? Never. You will die before you act and take that "education" to the grave.
However, collectivists do not waste time educating. They get stuff done by acting. Collectivists use numbers to win. They are useful idiots. The constitutional side can win using useful idiot, ignorant people and the clueless to win. So you are helping the collectivists by telling constitutionalists to learn and educate rather than act. Actions speak louder than words. So stop talking and typing and start acting.

First, we are not a representative democracy.  We are a republic. . . period.  "Is educating the people... going to fix our nation?" he asked.  No, but when we do fix it, an informed public will ensure we continue to be a republic, and not a "nation."  Collectivists don't waste time with education, he says, and he's right.  They don't do that because they are action oriented, but because it is to their advantage to keep the public uneducated.  Pol Pot, Stalin, and Mao killed the educated for a reason.

At the end, Randy tells me to "stop talking and typing and start acting."

While I am all about educating the public about the Constitution, despite Randy's uninformed opinion, I do "act" as well - and I do it on a very limited budget since I have been unable to work 9 to 5 since an injury I incurred a couple years ago.  In other words, despite a pain-wracked body, I do more than the average person. . . probably including Randy.

Here's my email response to him:

Randy,

Thank you for your efforts as a constitutionalist, whatever they may be. Trying to put down your teammates is counter-productive, and you really shouldn't assume things about people without fully knowing what they do. You apparently know little about me, and I am saddened by the tone of your email that essentially sounds like you are attacking me for educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. I "act" as well as teach, talk and type. Keeping the republic requires us to build relationships with our representatives, to attend our local government meetings and functions, to get to know the people who are making decisions, and to sometimes become one of those people in office. But, acting without knowing can be dangerous. Without the education, without the people understanding the "owner's manual" that is the Constitution, acting without knowing how the system is supposed to function can cause more damage than good.

I have relationships with a number of elected officials, and work to guide them constitutionally. I am a board member on a number of organizations, conducting active operations into the political world in various ways, working seven days per week. I am also a member of a Citizens for Self-Governance team, which is designed to be very active, involved, and election altering. CSG, in fact, was behind the upset against Eric Cantor when he lost.

The average person, however, is not equipped with the knowledge I have to be effective in the fight. Would you work on an engine that you did not know anything about? Would you turn wrenches on it without reading the owner's manual? Blind action can be as dangerous as the Marxist revolution being conducted by the left. We all have roles. Mine, among other things, includes educating the public, and spreading constitutional literacy.

Thanks for the email. My actions speak loudly, and you going around attacking other people you are supposed to be an ally with is more damaging than good. I added all of the things I do, just in case you doubt I am active and am involved and think I am simply talking and typing, in my signature line below. For future reference, it would be wise to be fully informed before trying to attack someone about what they do.

Blessings,

Douglas V. Gibbs
Director, Center for the Study of the U.S. Constitution
Fellow, American Freedom Alliance
Secretary, Birth Choice Temecula
Boardmember, Murrieta-Temecula Republican Assembly
Founding Member, Unite Inland Empire
President, Constitution Association
Team Member, Citizens for Self-Governance, Temecula
Member, California Republican National Hispanic Assembly, Riverside County Chapter, application approval pending
Radio Host, KMET AM1490
Publisher, Table Top News
Author, "25 Myths of the United States Constitution," "The Basic Constitution," "Concepts of the United States Constitution," and "Silenced Screams: Abortion in a Virtuous Society"
www.douglasvgibbs.com
www.politicalpistachio.com
www.constitutionassociation.com
www.constitutioneducation.net
www.tabletopnews.net