'A Republic, If You Can Keep It'

by Lawrence Kadish
April 15, 2022 at 2:30 pm

Today's political leaders might consider what should be America's priorities. These should include incentives to businesses for research and development in advanced technology to "broaden the base" for a "made in America" policy; furthering school choice so that children in disadvantaged areas can have the same opportunity for a good education as children who live in more prosperous areas, and freeing up speech again not to be censored by self-proclaimed "fact-checkers" currently guarding the "henhouse" of the public square. One just needs to remember the words of our founding father Benjamin Franklin, that we will have a Republic -- "if you can keep it." (Photo of Benjamin Franklin by MPI/Getty Images)

The New York Times, on December 8th, 1865, months after the civil war had ended, wrote that if one of America's major political parties had been successful, slavery would have been permanently sustained and many leaders in the United States would have made the ownership of human beings one of America's founding principles.

The article leads us to ask about the larger issues of our current political environment. The report went on to suggest that in America, an ideal party would be "a generous party, who are in favor of the rights of all people."

There have been occasions in American history, The Times, continued where America was not based on "virtues and services" but instead on "theft and murder, and "the oppression of human beings."

Of course, at that time the country, did not have broadcast and cable media outlets that could amplify press releases. It did not have social media moguls who could arbitrarily decide what they would allow on their site and what they often inappropriately declare as inappropriate.

America in 1865 also did not have today's ballot harvesters -- election workers who are paid to scoop up absentee ballots and potentially dispose of those that their employers consider worthy of the dumpster.

A number of today's politicians too often seem to be seeking tactical political and commercial advantages rather than addressing the broader strategic issues that are placing the future of our nation at great risk. While in-party fighting has been part of our democracy since the days of our founding fathers, many politicians still appear to spend much time engaged in the pursuit of concerns other than our present national crises.

There seems, for instance, to be no coherent strategy to confront the threats to the free world on our doorstep from Russia, China and potentially Iran and North Korea. There also seems to be no concern about China's openly-stated designs on Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific; or about threats of repeated blackmail from any country that possesses a nuclear weapon; or, on our southern border, about the immigration crisis last year by more than two million people, about whom little is known; or the murder last year of more than 64,000 Americans by China – not from Covid, but from fentanyl and other Illegal drugs; the ballooning $30 trillion dollar deficit; escalating violent crime, often in the poorest neighborhoods, and the rampant inflation that is shattering our economy.