The Conservative View: What Can I Do For You Today?

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner and conservative activist Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

 The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

What Can I Do For You Today?

In a short period of time we Americans will decide who will run the affairs of our country and our government. We Americans have gotten into a bad habit of asking politicians what can they do for us today. It was Ronald Reagan who once said that politics is the world’s second oldest profession and it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

History is full of instances where people have elected the wrong people to run governments across the world; just because a person may have a charismatic personality doesn’t insure that they will be a good leader. I have found that there are two kinds of politicians, one type will tell you what you need to hear and the other will tell you what you want to hear. In my opinion the second type is no better than a common conman. Our country is facing many problems and there is no quick fix, many of the problems that we are facing are of our own making. For far too long we have been electing leaders that promise to go to the public treasury and bring home the bacon, when you look at democracies across history that is the one common factor in their demise.

We Americans have forgotten that our system of government is a Republic and not a Democracy. In a Republic we are ruled by law and not by the simple majority, in a democracy the citizens often degrade into nothing more than mob rule. In a pure democracy, if a majority of the people wants to make murder legal it will be legal; in a republic there are absolutes, even if a majority want to make murder legal it is still illegal.

I have noticed the movement in our county with the Tea Party people and others that are seeing the seriousness of the situation that our country is in. When I look at potential candidates and they start promising a chicken in every pot or some equally absurd promise, I am reminded that the primary function of our government is to protect our liberty and freedom. Distractions in our personal lives rob us of productivity and energy, only when we back up and focus our energy can we make progress. I know that it is human nature to want to get something for nothing, but we need to remember that the price we pay could be the very liberties that our county was founded upon.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.