I hear so many stories about other countries where the State controls the people. Where people live in fear of their governments, and live in fear of law enforcement. Countries where those who have guns, and badges, and authority rule the day, and have all the power over the people. I hear stories of tyrannical leaders who rule their people with iron fists, and threaten death if there is non-compliance to their rules, and their demands. I hear of countries where the people have no power at all over their lives, who have no rights, and can only adhere to what their governments and their law enforcement tell them to do.
The United States sometimes gets a bad reputation in certain corners of the globe. But one thing that remains true here is that we have inalienable rights that are afforded to us by the Constitution of the United States, which is for us, the law of the land.
No law here can be created that goes against it. And this Constitution protects us, the citizens, from tyrannical government rule. The power in our country is in the hands of the people. Not the government. And for some people, this idea is very foreign to them.
We rule this land. The people. The citizenry.
In some countries it would be unheard of to tell the police to go pound sand and have them actually leave the "scene," powerless to do anything but be at the charge and command of the citizen. In some countries it would be unheard of to look a police officer in the eye and tell him, "You have no authority here. You may go."
But in the United States, the citizen who is law abiding, and operating within the law and within the Constitution of the United States has the ultimate authority. The people are in charge. Not law enforcement. And not the government.
It is a bit of a cliché thing here in our country to tell a police officer or a government employee or a politician that "You work for me." But the truth is? It is true. We are the boss. We pay the taxes that pay for their salaries. We are the ones who vote them into positions. We are the ones who call the shots. Because we are their employers.
And so long as we are doing nothing outside of the law or the Constitution, law enforcement and politicians really have no authority at all to tell us what to do. We can, with full authority, command them to do what we want them to do, within the law.
This is what freedom looks like. This is what liberty looks like. This is what it looks like when the people are in charge. This is what it looks like when governments have limited control, and limited power.
I do not always approve of the tactics or the antics of Jason Gutterman of Amagansett Press. But, what he posts on YouTube serves as an example of the power the people have over our government. We are not lead around by law enforcement like sheep. We do not allow lies and false statement to be truths. We do not let laws to be created on the fly. We do not allow ourselves to be pushed around by forces who want all the control, and have the power to wield it by denying rights and by denying our personal authority.
We take charge, and we hold our personal power dear.
The President of the United States is, and may be the most powerful office in our nation. But despite the power he has, his power is limited by the people, and by the Constitution. And no matter his power, a common man can stand in his office at the foot of the president, and still have more power to tell him what to do than the president has the power to tell a citizen what to do.
Because in America, we the people are the government.
Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user Free-Photos. American Flag Usa United - Free photo on Pixabay
I think the key is that your institutions work independently. And the law is enforced. While in many other places, my country included, institutions and laws are in the hands of unscrupulous rulers who use them at will.