One of our readers introduced me to the phrase, “bullet box”, as opposed to the “ballot box” a few years ago. I never thought that in my lifetime I would see the “bullet box” become a viable possibility and a virtually inevitable prospect for the near term. I always wondered what could have possibly pushed our founders to armed revolt against England and signing the Declaration of Independence. Likewise, I wondered what could have possibly done the same when the Southern States opted to leave the Union. Violence is so ugly, and its consequences so terrible, that to entertain it as a viable option borders on lunacy for any rational human being.
The beauty of our Republic is that we are governed by the rule-of-law, and the law is the product of legislatures elected by the voting populace. The law is administered by an executive branch of government which is also elected by the populace, with a judiciary that applies the constrains of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The process is by no means perfect, since human beings with all of their frailties are involved at every step. So there have always been abuses of power, and there always will be. Further, not everyone is going to agree with the established law, and nor should they be expected to. However, the law can be changed when the populace determines that it no longer serves their needs or expectations by voting for elected representatives who will transfer their will into law.
It works for us, and what distinguishes us from almost every nation in history is that we accept the rule of law as a people. Every individual has the ability to involve themselves in the political process either directly as a candidate for office, or indirectly through political action directed at correcting “injustices” or promoting some special interest. If the majority of the populace disagrees, then the minority can make their case until they gain enough support to effect a change. Sometimes that process is frustrating and slow, while at other times the cause is just too far outside-of-the-mainstream to gain sufficient support (sorry James Hart). For the most part, Americans simply don’t find the use of violence to promote an agenda as an acceptable tactic in the process.
Frustration has been building among the majority of the populace for some time now, so this is not a recent or sudden change of attitude that I am about to address. I am a conservative and my political point-of-view is not fairly well represented these days (not since Ronald Reagan). Even when it was, it was not 100%, but then again who among us expects to have representation in politics that is everything we desire? That would be a foolish and narcissistic expectation (yes Mickey, I mean you). No, most of politics is about finding the middle-road that bests reflects a persons individual views in an elected official.
