Saturday evening I attended the Second Annual Defense of Liberty Dinner in Maryland Heights. This event was organized by Missouri State Representative Paul Curtman and featured talks by a number of influential Missouri leaders. Duane Lester of The Missouri Torch was the emcee. Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder started things out with an inspiring welcome, and we then heard from State Auditor Tom Schweich, Congressman Jason Smith, Ryan Johnson of the Missouri Alliance for Freedom, Keynote Speaker John Brunner, and of course Paul Curtman.
Auditor Schweich was on fire, not only filling us in on details of his auditing activities but also pointing out the importance of leaders having integrity, competence, and discipline. Jason Smith described the difficulty and frustration of fighting the massive intrusion of government into our daily lives, but the necessity of persistence. Ryan Johnson promised to help us keep an eye on the folks who promise to be fans of liberty and small government but when they get to Jefferson City seem to “forget”.
Representative Curtman related a couple of stories of his days as a marine, including one where he was leading a group of marines through a training exercise and got “lost”. From that story came the morals that “it is never too late to start going in the right direction”, and the importance of trusting the integrity of the map. In this case the map is the Constitution, our guide for how to retain our liberty, a guide that we have seemingly set aside to follow “leaders” who claim to know a better way.
Keynote speaker John Brunner gave an awesome speech on leadership. He pointed out that leadership takes courage, and courage takes faith. He also discussed Jefferson’s famous quote that “one man with courage is a majority”. Like Paul Curtman, John Brunner was also a marine, and he related some wisdom from his days serving his country. He also headed his own company and ran for US Senate a couple of years ago. Hindsight being 20/20, it is clear he would have been the best choice.
The room was large but was just about completely full; it was a great turnout. It was more than just empty talk when Brunner made the observation that the room was filled with leaders. There were lots of folks in the room that will be on the August ballot. There were a number of people I have met and gotten to know through my involvement in local liberty groups and activities. These are good, honest, motivated members of our community who share a deep concern for the direction of our nation and society.
There is a struggle going on in our society. There are of course a number of people who feel government, and in particular the federal government, is the solution to every problem. They see restrictions on the power of the federal government to fix every problem as unfortunate. They feel the constitution is an outdated document written by old white men over two centuries ago and not relevant to today’s modern society. The vast majority of these people belong to the Democrat party and vote exclusively for Democrats and would generally be labeled as liberals.
These folks are wrong, of course. I daresay despite the advances in technology and science our founders such as Jefferson and Madison were much wiser and better educated than the vast majority of the folks that make up our society today. Philosophy and government and human nature have not changed. But it seems our founders understood that the natural course of events was away from freedom and toward bigger government. We continue sliding away from individual liberty and responsibility and toward tyranny and a nanny state.
We are certainly fighting against the big government liberals on the left but that is not the biggest hurdle we face. Remember that many of the colonists wanted to preserve the rule of the British monarch rather than face an uncertain future, albeit one where they would be free. The left has always been a part of our society.
The bigger hurdle is that a vast majority of Americans are not engaged at all. They are watching American Idol and they are at the malls. They are playing Candy Crush and watching Master Chef. There is nothing wrong with any of those things, and the frustration and animosity that comes with getting involved is a daunting thing to many, and they would simply rather not deal with it. And so the social media is filled with pictures of cats and puppies, and the latest news about Kanye and Kim.
The masses are not paying attention and so they get their impressions in snippets and sound bites. Leaders on the left and the right realize this and they attempt to control the presentation of their own brand, while attempting to negatively label those on the other side.
There is another struggle going on, this one on the right. The Republican brand is deeply tarnished. It has been smeared both by folks on the right doing and saying stupid things, and by a deliberate negative campaign from the left.
Regular readers will be aware that I have become much more involved in the last couple of years in understanding local and state government and trying to take responsibility for change rather than simply throwing my shoe at the television. What I have learned is more than a little disconcerting. The apathy and inattention of the electorate has allowed a large number of people to be elected to public office who have no core philosophy, and no real clue what they are in government to do.
They mumble platitudes about wanting to make a difference and they point to their smiling children and they promise to represent the will of their constituents. They make shiny flyers and yard signs and shake hands and convince voters that they are “concerned”. And yes, many of those people are Republicans as well as Democrats.
I could not help noticing those people were not in the room last night. The “establishment” Republicans are very concerned about polls and image and electability. They support the status quo and go-along, get-along mentality. When asked how they feel about a particular issue they are either siding with the Speaker or voting with their constituency or they aren’t sure how they will vote yet.
When you look at these politicians and their voting record and try to discern a coherent philosophy all you can do is scratch your head. No wonder the masses are disillusioned. Corporatism and cronyism and attention to lobbyists and special interests will leave you with no core values, no center.
Last night was inspiring to me because I listened to people with core philosophies and integrity and a devotion to the “map” that every public official swears allegiance to, the Constitution. The people in that room understand the meaning of liberty and personal responsibility and true leadership. We all understood that the words of the Declaration of Independence provide a roadmap and job definition, with the Constitution providing the specific direction.
As a society we are lost, and heading in the wrong direction. But rest assured there is a strong and growing liberty movement that sees the problem and is stepping forward to get us back on track. We have the map, we have the leaders, and we have the passion. And it is never too late to start going in the right direction.
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