Saturday, June 14, 2008

A Republic If You Can Keep It

When he was asked about what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had produced, Ben Franklin was said to have replied a Republic if you can keep it. The key word that we should take note of in that statement is if you can keep it, Franklin new that a Republic is a difficult form of government to keep because it requires it citizens to be well informed and involved in the political process in order for a republican government to function properly. Too many people in the United States do not do their duty as citizens, they don’t stay up to date on the issues facing the country, they don’t stay informed and they don’t vote. They make excuse for this behavior by saying that one person can’t make a difference, that they don’t have the time, that it doesn’t affect them, but when the average person chooses to divorce themselves from the political process this special interest groups to gain more and more influence and this is one of the reason why it seems at times that government policies serve the interest of a relatively small set of interest groups not the general public.

I know that in Illinois there are many people that are share the set of core beliefs of the Republican Liberty Caucus that are not involved in the political process because they are turned off by the candidates offered by the Republican party right now or because of actions of the Illinois GOP. If anyone reading this is one of those people I hope that you will take a second to consider that instead of waiting and hoping for the Illinois GOP to changes or for some candidate to come around and inspire you that you should start working to things. Instead of waiting for some one else to inspire you to go out and get involved in the political process you should inspire yourself to do so and work to inspire other similar minded people to get involved. Political work takes sacrifice, it requires people to give up their time, time that they could be spend with family, friend, ect, and some times it requires us to give of our money too but I truly believe this sacrifice is more than worth it if it helps to produce a better nation for all of us. Once again if you are reading this and you are one of those people who is sitting on the political side line I would ask you to read over the positions of the Republican Liberty Caucus and take some time to think about them and if they make sense to you and seem like good government policy, then please join us and help to build a better us to build a better Illinois GOP, a better Illinois and better nation.