This is Day 288 of Flattening The Great State of Ohio and Day 48 of ordering born-free adults home by 10pm.
Deb and I are maintaining, and we’re doing a fine job of that, too.
Yesterday afternoon brought a surprise — Richard Michael DeWine actually signed Ohio Senate Bill 175. The “stand your ground” measure will “expand the location at which a person has no duty to retreat before using force under both civil and criminal law.”
It was a no-brainer, really, an affirmation of a birthright protected by our state and federal constitutions. But because the governor had given no indication that he’d keep his promise to support such a bill, and with persistent opposition in the Ohio General Assembly — every single Democrat, along with five Republicans from big urban districts, voted to rob law-abiding citizens of a fighting chance against criminal thugs — SB 175 is a big win.
Dare I say, huuuuge.
I’m proud that the bill’s sponsor was my own state senator, Tim Schaffer, whose commitment to Liberty came through for us once again. As for the governor, signing “stand your ground” wins him no goodwill with me — as in zero.
He simply lived up to his oath, for a change, and he doesn’t get any points for that. I may have voted for him in 2018, but after what he’s done (and threatened to do) to Ohio, I’ll never vote for him again.
Benjamin Franklin was a spry 81-year-old when the Constitutional Convention was held in 1787. Legend has it that as he walked out of the Old Pennsylvania State House, he was greeted on the Philadelphia street by a group of citizens asking him what kind of government the 55 delegates had birthed. His answer:
“A republic, if you can keep it.”
Moving forward from the Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, at any given moment the sort of government we have is the government we commit to keeping. The Founders established our representative constitutional republic, decorated with a few democratic ornaments, but they also reminded us that keeping that republic, if we can, is a matter of consent.
“…to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Consent begins with personal principle but doesn’t end there. It depends on being informed, drawing power from knowledge, and turning that power into engagement that preserves the sort of government we seek to keep.
The way I see it, a citizen is either actively involved in keeping our republic or — whether by opposition, passivity or inaction — contributing to its demise. It’s that simple.
Deb is fond of saying that “silence is consent.” That’s a fact. I was born with a voice, and I can’t imagine choosing to silence it, for any reason.
There are a few common roadblocks to engaging in keeping the Founders’ vision — among them ignorance, apathy and a distaste for all things political. Any of the three can cause a person to simply abdicate from participating in the process.
“A citizen is either actively involved in keeping our republic or — whether by opposition, passivity or inaction — contributing to its demise.”
If we’re to keep our republic, we cannot be silent. We must be informed. We must engage. We can never relent. To do otherwise, or to do less, is to sacrifice what Lincoln called “the last best hope of Earth.”
Today that duty falls to Georgia. We’re about to learn if the citizens of Georgia want to keep our republic, or if they’re content being Metro Atlanta’s Big Back Yard — and sentencing the rest of America to becoming California.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath