Friday, February 16, 2007

Crisis in Rochester: End of Week 2

For the past two weeks, I have been trying to understand, to comprehend why the Town Board did what they did. Then, it hit me: I have been ignoring my own understanding of Government. Government does what it does because it can. As simple as that may sound, it's the truth.
That may not seem to be a particularly useful philosophy, but it really is, if you think about it. You see, if Government acts because it can, what we need to do is make sure that it cannot do what it wants. Thomas Jefferson tells us our rights are inalienable because they come from our Creator. Our Constitution spells out what the most important of those Rights are.
So, just what is a Right? Well, if a Right is inalienable and the Town Board can keep us from exercising it, it's obviously not the actual ability to do so something. We retain the Right even if we are forbidden from acting on it.
Is it a limitation imposed on Government? Again, Government is not actually restrained from acting in a particular way by the existence of a Right of the People.
Is it a legal privilege bestowed upon us by law? Then it would not be inalienable.
In my humble opinion, a Right is when Government should be restrained from acting in a certain way, it is the moral and ethical ability to do something. Most importantly, it is that which, when infringed upon by Government for any reason, demonstrates that Government's lack of legitimacy and authority.
When Government treads upon our Rights, and thereby casts its own legitimacy on the garbage heap, our moral obligation to obey its strictures evaporates. It is in just such situations that civil disobedience becomes an ethically justified course of action.
What is important to remember is that the extent to which Government has defiled our Rights is unimportant, only that its has done so. Whereas motivations and circumstances may be taken into consideration when judging the actions of an individual, the overwhelming power Government brings to bear upon us leaves no room to detour from the straight and narrow in the slightest.
In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson tells us that "to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The entire reason for the existence of Government is to make sure our Rights remain unimpeded. When Government itself becomes the instrument by which our Rights are trampled upon, it loses any legitimate reason for existence.
Unfortunately, Government's proper role in society comes into conflict with a basic law of human behavior. As the British historian Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." When Government is given the power to do its job, the road to self-corruption begins. Eventually, that corruption leads to acts which controvert the Rights of the People, at which point Government abdicates its original role and begins to exist for the sole purpose of retaining power, which serves to further corrupt itself. A vicious circle commences which can only be stopped by those who are the subjects of Government's abuse.
This process is, naturally, slowed when Government is made up of those who fear the power of the very institution to which they belong. Conversely, it is sped up when Government consists of those who believe in utilizing the power of Government on a far wider basis.
Where does all this leave the Town of Rochester? Sad as it may seem, we are left with two choices: endure the increasing abuse of power of our own Town Government or remove from office all who have misused that power and lost our trust, our confidence and the authority we have bestowed upon them.
Thanks be the Creator who has granted us our Rights, we live in a nation where removing those unsuited for public service is possible. The ability to wield the ballot absolves us of the need to resort to the bullet, as in other parts of the world. Indeed, when one has the peaceful means to effect change, force and violence become unpardonable.
The fact that we are able ot bring about a peaceful, electoral revolution, however, brings with it the need to work towards that goal. Victory on the part of the People on Election Day is by no means guaranteed because we are fighting on the side of that which is right and good and true. We must be resolute, we must act, we must be on our guard. We have everything to gain and those in power have everything to lose. The Regime will not go quietly. Every one of us must make sure that those of our neighbors who are of good will and recognize that our Town Government is habitually abusive get out and vote. We must educate our neighbors, get the word out and, above all, continue to shine the light on the repeated acts of infirngement upon our civil rights and freedoms perpetrated by our Town Government.
We will prevail because we must. To prevail, we must work. And work we shall.

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