Commissioner John Sweet was the lone dissenting vote supporting a county resolution opposing key provisions of the 2012 NDAA. Commissioners Bob Main and Melissa Cribbins passed a stripped down version of an earlier proposal submitted by groups working across the country to repeal subsections that would allow the indefinite detention of American citizens without due process.
Craig Zanni
Sweet said that while he agreed the provisions were potentially dangerous, he would not sign because he didn’t feel it was county business even though there was no testimony opposing a county resolution. He also said he wouldn’t vote for it because he didn’t want to “open the floodgates” to other federal issues. (More on this later).
While the resolution doesn’t require the commission to lobby Salem to take similar action, this is a good start.
Please be sure to send a thank you note to Main and Cribbins.
Bob Main
(541) 396-7540
John Sweet
(541) 396-7541
Melissa Cribbins
(541) 396-7539
Craig Zanni
Representative Disconnect is Sweet
I just watched a video of an out of state County Commissioners’ meeting. A citizen asked a commissioner if he had any feedback to his position that he would not support an anti-NDAA resolution. The citizen was part of a broad coalition of liberal and conservative groups I have been helping to get the resolution passed. He answered that he had only received criticism from across the country and within the state for his position.
The citizen asked if he was therefore representing his own position in opposing it rather than the citizens’ position favoring it. In other words she was asking him his basis for opposing the resolution. His reply was “I am not going to answer your question. The resolution will be taken up next week.”
Many if not most citizens recognize we have a serious problem in this Republic. Many have a hard time putting their finger on the problem but it manifests itself in government officials doing things which the people do not like.
The problem is systemic and it is apparent at all levels of government not just the federal government.
It seems that many of the public officials are determined not to do what We the People want but rather to do what they or a special interest believe, or at least tell us they believe, it best for us. This is the very definition of paternalism. Paternalism is the heart and soul of a Monarchy and totalitarian governments.
Our government is based on personal freedom and personal responsibility. It is modeled after God’s free will. As a free people we get to make our own choices and we get to reap the benefits or bad results from them. That is the essence of Liberty, the corner stone of this Republic. Jefferson said our Liberty ended at the next man’s nose.
This is what has made us the most free and most prosperous people in the history of mankind.
We are not a democracy! A democracy is transitory government that always degenerates into anarchy and ends up in totalitarianism. Our founding fathers hated democracy. Jefferson likened it to ” mob rule” where the majority could vote away the rights of the minority.
Under our Constitutional Republic the fundamental rights of all are paramount and must be respected. The Constitution sets the limits upon the governments i.e., the city, county, state and federal governments on what they can do and specifically that they may not trample on the rights of anyone including the minority even at the request of the majority. Our government is suppose to be based upon the will of the majority within the bounds of the Constitution.
We also have a federalist government. Under this system each level of government has its own sphere of responsibility and the governments interact and are responsible to maintain the proper balance in the system. This interaction is to ensure no one part of the government becomes over bearing and infringes on the responsibility of another sphere of government and of paramount importance do not infringe upon the fundamental rights of We the People.
The health and vitality of the Republic is as much the interest and responsibility of the county government as it is the state or the federal government!
We the People are the sovereigns unlike all other governments of the world in which the government, whether be it an individual (King) or a counsel , is the sovereign.
Our government officials are suppose to be “public servants” not masters or overlords. A “servant” is an employee who is employed to carry out the wishes and attend to the desires of the master i.e. We the People.
Whereas most governments are primarily concerned with continuity of government our governments are suppose to be primarily concerned with continuity of Liberty!
This is the fundamental flaw of the 2012 NDAA, it sacrifices Liberty for security. In this country Liberty is our Security!
If a public servant refuses to answer your questions he / she is asserting a mastery over you which is un-American and dangerous to the principles upon which this Republic was founded. It is no different than you refusing to answer a question of your employer. How long would you last if you told your boss “I am not going to answer your question” or ” I will answer you later when it is more convenient to me” or ” This is not the proper time for me to answer you , I’ll answer you next week”.
The appropriate time to answer the boss’ question is now or when the boss says is appropriate. We have an absolute right to have an answer. We have an absolute right to know what our servant’s position is on any issue and the basis and reasoning for their position and we have a right , regardless of their position, to have them conform to our will not promote their own.
We as citizens have a duty to re-educate or replace any public servant that tries to assert dominance over us by refusing to answer our questions or refusing to obey the directives of the majority within the bounds of the Constitution.
In fact when it comes to the citizen detention provisions of the 2012 NDAA it is our public servant’s duty, under their oath to support the Constitution, and their state sovereign duty of Protection, to oppose the NDAA regardless of what the majority want.
If a public servant does not understand their duty, or is to meek or timid to carry it out they should be replaced.
For the sake of Liberty
Richard D. Fry
General Counsel
Patriot Coalition